Vijayawada, Jan (IANS) Telugu Desam Party (TDP) parliamentary party leader and industrialist Galla Jayadev on Sunday announced that he is quitting politics and will focus on business.

The Lok Sabha member from Guntur declared that he will not contest the forthcoming elections.

Jayadev, who is Chairman and Managing Director of Amara Raja Batteries, said he took the decision as he did not want to continue as a part-time politician.

Addressing media persons in Guntur, he said his decision was temporary and he would later return to politics with new vigor.

Explaining the reasons for his decision, Jayadev said at a time when he was being targeted by the state and the Central governments, he can’t sit silently as an MP. He said he was unable to do his duty as the MP and hence decided to stay away from politics.

Jayadev also said that his father Ramachandra Naidu Galla retired from business two years ago and he had to take a decision to quit politics to focus on business.

He recalled that he raised his voice in Parliament for special category status to Andhra Pradesh. He said when TDP pulled out of the government at the Centre and moved a no-confidence motion, he was the one who spoke in Parliament on behalf of the party.

The MP said the Enforcement Directorate (ED) called him twice for questioning in different cases. He said his business was under surveillance while ED and CBI were tapping his phones.

Jayadev had joined TDP before the 2014 elections along with his mother and former minister Aruna Kumari.

He was elected to Lok Sabha from Guntur in 2014 and retained the seat in 2019.

Jayadev, who studied politics and economics at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, is brother-in-law of popular Tollywood actor Mahesh Babu.

One of the wealthiest MPs, Jayadev had declared assets of Rs 683 crore.