VIJAYAWADA: TDP leaders have expressed growing dissatisfaction with their alliance partners - the BJP and the JSP - for inducting controversial leaders from the YSRCP.
Reports suggest that during a meeting with TDP General Secretary and Minister for HRD and IT Nara Lokesh, several Ministers conveyed the displeasure of the party’s grassroots members.
The induction of Visakha Dairy Chairman Adari Anand Kumar from the YSRCP into the BJP raised concerns, particularly as the Assembly’s House Committee, headed by Speaker Ch Ayyanna Patrudu, began an inquiry into alleged irregularities at Visakha Dairy.
The Ministers also informed Lokesh about the joining of former APCOB (Andhra Pradesh Co-operative Bank) Chairman Ganji Chiranjeevi in the JSP. Chiranjeevi, who belongs to Mangalagiri Assembly Constituency which is represented by Lokesh, had quit the TDP in August 2022 and joined the YSRCP.
Ahead of the elections, the YSRCP leadership had considered fielding him against Lokesh, but they ultimately chose another candidate. Disappointed with the YSRCP, Chiranjeevi recently joined the JSP, much to the frustration of TDP workers.
Another contentious figure, Jayamangala Venkataramana, who had aspired for a ticket to contest the Nuzvid Assembly seat from the TDP, joined the YSRCP after his prospects in the yellow party dimmed. Later appointed as an MLC, he switched to the JSP following the YSRCP’s defeat.
TDP leaders recalled that these turncoat leaders had previously levelled charges against party supremo N Chandrababu Naidu and harassed party activists during YSRCP’s tenure.
Cadre: Coalition dharma should be upheld
A TDP leader noted that party cadres were upset with the alliance partners for admitting such leaders without following coalition principles. Some felt it would have been better if the alliance partners had refrained from admitting YSRCP leaders for at least a year.
“Given the harassment these leaders inflicted on opposition parties when YSRCP was in power, TDP, JSP, and BJP workers expected these turncoats would face some consequences. The induction of these leaders into the JSP and BJP, however, has led to increasing dissatisfaction among TDP supporters,” a senior leader noted.