VIJAYAWADA: In yet another jolt to the YSRCP, Rajya Sabha member Vemireddy Prabhakar Reddy has resigned from the primary membership of the party as well as from the membership of the upper house, citing ‘personal reasons’.
The MP was reportedly unhappy with the leadership for the last few days and distanced himself from party activities. He is likely to join the TDP in the next few days.
In the run-up to the elections, the YSRCP has taken up the exercise of appointing coordinators to parliamentary and Assembly seats. Prabhakar Reddy was reportedly asked to contest the Nellore Lok Sabha seat to which he had consented.
He, however, reportedly asked the party leadership to change the sitting MLAs of Nellore City, Kavali and Udayagiri. This was because Prabhakar Reddy is reportedly unhappy with the functioning of Nellore City MLA and former minister P Anil Kumar Yadav and urged the leadership to change the candidate for the Assembly election.
Though the party has shifted Anil Kumar Yadav out and asked him to contest to the Lok Sabha from Narasaraopet, weighing caste equations, the leadership, however, appointed Anil Kumar Yadav’s close aide and deputy mayor of Nellore Md Khaleel Ahmed as the in-charge of Nellore City seat.
Sources said the party leadership did not consult Prabhakar Reddy while appointing Khaleel Ahmed as the coordinator. Cut to the quick, the MP had distanced himself from all party activities.
He then approached the TDP and expressed his intention to join the party which reportedly assured him that he would be given Nellore MP ticket following which he quit the party.
Vemireddy’s wife also quits YSRC
Prabhakar Reddy’s wife, Prashanthi Reddy, who is the chairperson of the TTD Local Area Committee of Delhi with a responsibility to look after the affairs of all TTD temples in North India, has also resigned from the party.
His resignation is a setback to the YSRC, which has faced rebellion from three MLAs of the district. Already party legislators from Nellore Kotamreddy Sridhar Reddy, Anam Ramnarayana Reddy and Mekapati Chandrasekhar Reddy have revolted against the party. The YSRC, which has made a clean sweep of all the 10 Assembly seats in Nellore district and the MP seat 2019, may now have to toil hard to repeat the same performance in the ensuing polls.
Soon after the development, TDP Politburo member Somireddy Chandramohan Reddy invited Prabhakar Reddy into the party fold.
“Vemireddy Prabhakar Reddy and his wife, known for their unwavering dedication to public service and community welfare, resigned from their primary membership of the party. Their contribution to education, infrastructure development and charitable initiatives have been widely recognised and appreciated by the people of Andhra Pradesh,” he said.
Somireddy said Prabhakar Reddy’s ideas and contributions will be valued.