AP: BJP State unit leaders unhappy over Nallamilli joining party to contest Anaparthi seat
VIJAYAWADA: There is growing dissidence within the State BJP unit after it was decided on Sunday that TDP rebel leader Nallamilli Ramakrishna Reddy would join the saffron party and contest the Anaparthi Assembly seat under the Rajamahendravam MP segment.
Though the BJP does not have much significance in the constituency, Anaparthi seat was allocated to it by the TDP as part of the tripartite alliance.
The party had even announced M Shiva Krishnam Raju as its candidate. However, former MLA Ramakrishna Reddy was aspiring to contest from there and raised a banner of revolt. Considering that it would be impossible to win the seat without the support of Ramakrishna Reddy and the same might impact the result of Rajamahendravaram Lok Sabha seat, the BJP negotiated with its alliance partner.
The BJP wanted the TDP to contest from Anaparthi and allocate Denduluru instead. The TDP has now come up with a formula where Ramakrishna Reddy will join the BJP and contest from Anaparthi.
This, however, has led to a debate in the party. Senior leaders are of the view that the party leadership has bargained for an alternative seat rather than contesting the same with a TDP candidate. “Since Anaparthi falls under Rajamahendravaram Lok Sabha segment and Anaparthi is a crucial Assembly constituency, we have to compromise and take Ramakrishna Reddy into the party fold,” a senior leader said.
It is said that former chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy personally called Ramakrishna Reddy and invited him to join the BJP. “We were given seats which we were not expecting and where we cannot win. We don’t have a base in Badvel and we were asked to contest from there. We have to take a TDP leader into our fold and make him contest. Senior leaders are unhappy over the developments,” another leader maintained.
Senior leader Lakshmipathi Raja said such a move would bring down the morale of the cadre and it would show an adverse effect on the survival of the party in the State. “The TDP should have contested the Anaparthi seat and given Denduluru to the BJP,” he opined.
Retired IAS officer and BJP leader IYR Krishna Rao took to X and said the development is an example of how directionless the AP BJP is. “There is more anti-incumbency against Jagan in urban areas and the BJP has more chances of winning there. However, the seats allocated to BJP and the seats it has accepted are more in rural areas only,” he noted.
He added that taking a leader from another party into BJP and making him contest the seat is detrimental to the party’s very existence. “The seat should have been left to the TDP and the BJP should have contested from Rajamahendravarm Urban. Senior leader Somu Veerraju might have been asked to contest from there, but this would have been a problem to the TDP,” Krishna Rao said and tagged BJP national president JP Nadda and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
Making fun of the alliance, YSRC general secretary Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy said TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu was sending his men into other parties and making them contest the polls. “Earlier, it happened with JSP. TDP leaders who joined JSP are contesting from Bhimavaram and Avanigadda. Now, in Anaparthi, Naidu is sending his man into the BJP and making him contest the elections,” he said.