Telugu Desam Party’s national official spokesperson Lanka Dinakar on Wednesday joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in New Delhi, ANI reported. This came a week after four of the party’s MPs in the Rajya Sabha defected to the saffron party.

“I am very to happy to join BJP today,” the news agency quoted Dinakar as saying. “I want to walk on the path shown by PM Modi and Amit Shah ji to build this nation. I will do my level best for the party in the state of Andra Pradesh.”

Dinakar was welcomed to the BJP by Working President JP Nadda. The former Telugu Desam Party leader reportedly informed the party’s national president and former Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu about his decision in a letter, News18 reported.

“I, Lanka Dinakar, herewith submitting my resignation for my position in the party as national spokesperson and primary membership of the party after unanimous decision of my family members,” the resignation letter said.

According to The Hindu, two or three of the party’s MLAs, including Anagani Satya Prasad, are in touch with senior BJP leaders in New Delhi.

This is another setback for the Chandrababu Naidu since YS Chowdary, CM Ramesh, TG Venkatesh and GM Rao passed a resolution on June 20 to merge the TDP Legislature Party in Rajya Sabha with the BJP. A day later, the defection was challenged by five legislators from the Telugu Desam party who met Vice President Venkaiah Naidu and demanded their disqualification under the Tenth Schedule of Constitution.

The Telugu Desam Party, which had quit the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance in 2018, performed poorly in the Lok Sabha and Andhra Pradesh Assembly elections, results for which were announced on May 23. The party won just three Lok Sabha seats and 23 out of the 175 Assembly constituencies in the state.