KADAPA: Former Union minister and former MP from Rajampet A Sai Pratap is returning to the Congress on May 16 in the presence of APCC president N Raghuveera Reddy. Explaining about his ‘homecoming’, Sai Pratap said he was unable to ‘fit’ in any other party and hence decided to return to the Congress after offering apologies to the party. He also promised to stay with the grand old party till his last breath.
Sai Pratap quit the Congress in 2016 and joined the TDP on May 24, 2016. At that time, he was given an assurance by TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu that Sai Pratap’s son-in-law Sai Lokesh will be given party ticket. But, while finalising candidates for the 2019 general elections, the TDP chief broke his promise and gave Rajampet MP seat to DK Satyaprabha.
Peeved over the “betrayal”, Sai Pratap resigned from the TDP on March 30. Though efforts were made by YSRC leaders including Kadapa MP candidate YS Avinash Reddy to induct him into the YSRC, it did not work as party chief YS Jagan Mohan Reddy was not ‘interested’ in Pratap. Sai Pratap, who had contested from Rajampet Lok Sabha seat nine times, won six times and also served as minister of state in the Manmohan Singh’s Cabinet. He was a good friend of former Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy and after the latter’s demise, he chose to continue with the Congress, though YSR’s son Jagan Mohan Reddy started his own political outfit — YSRC.
When contacted by TNIE, Sai Pratap said, “In other parties, people are ‘weighed’, but it is only in the Congress where a common man can become a leader. In the Congress, there is no caste or religion- based importance.”