Eluru MP Kavuri Sambasiva Rao continues to make the Congress survive anxious moments. After conferring with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at Delhi on Wednesday, the Eluru Parliamentarian made it clear that he was not going back on his resignation.
Kavuri sent his resignation letter to Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar upset over denial of a cabinet berth in the recent expansion.
According to sources close to the MP, he was very much pained by the way the party was trying to promote NTR’s daughter D Purandeswari to cabinet rank (later she was retained MoS) disregarding him though he served five terms in the Lok Sabha. He is very much disenchanted with the Congress and is looking at the YSR Congress.
“Kavuri may not join the YSRC straight away. He may have one of his family members join the party for Eluru Lok Sabha seat. Then, post election, he might go into the YSRC depending on how the results would turn out,” a source close to him said, adding emphatically that Kavuri’s association with the Congress is over for good.
The source further said: “Kavuri does not see logic in ignoring him and trying to reward Purandeswari. This apart, he is also unhappy over importance being given to Kapus in the party, a community with which Kammas do not get along.
Chiranjeevi, who joined the Congress only recently, was taken as a minister with independent charge and MM Pallam Raju, who was an MoS, was made a cabinet minister. Kavuri reportedly holds the opinion that Pallam Raju does not have the stature of becoming a cabinet minister.”
The Congress leaders at the state and central level, meanwhile, are trying to soothe his ruffled feelings since it is said he has the backing of about five MLAs of whom two had already joined the YSR congress - Alla Nani and Maddala Rajesh Kumar.
“He is not interested in party position. He often tells me that he had enough of it since he worked as AICC secretary. He wanted to be a member of the central cabinet so that he could consolidate his community people in the coastal areas,” a senior leader said. Kavuri also does not have much hope of the Congress regaining power either at the Centre or in the state. His protege N Paravathi lost the byelection to the Polavaram Assembly seat to the YSRC despite his focused campaign for her.