: YSR Congress president Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy will soon visit the constituencies of the party MLAs who defected to the Telugu Desam to expose them in front of the people and instil confidence in the cadre.
YSRC leaders utilised a meeting held to celebrate the 125{+t}{+h}birth anniversary of Dr B R Ambedkar here on Thursday to lash out at the Telugu Desam Party for inducing defections.
Senior leader of the party and Krishna district in charge Peddireddi Ramakrishna Reddy said he had already spoken to the party president and he had given his consent for it. The senior leader said that defections would only strengthen the party. “A few rotten apples leaving the party will only make it stronger,” he said.
Throwing a challenge to the TDP, Mr. Ramachandra Reddy said if the MLAs who defected resigned and got re-elected he would retire from politics.
The MLAs, who defected, had launched false propaganda that Mr. Jaganmohan Reddy was corrupt and had no respect for seniors. “Why will I stay in this party for so long if I am not respected?” he wondered.
Tiruvuru MLA gives
meet a miss
Three out of the four party MLAs of Krishna district attended the meeting held at a marriage hall. The hall was packed to capacity with several activists standing outside in the hot sun. MLAs Meka Pratap Appa Rao, Kodali Sri Venkateswara Rao and Uppulati Kalpana attended the meeting, but the Tiruvuru MLA was conspicuous by his absence.
Nuzvid MLA Appa Rao said that TDP sympathisers were still calling him on phone and asking him to defect. The YSRC MLAs who defected, would have no political future, he said. Gudivada MLA Kodali Sri Venkateswara Rao (alias Nani) said Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu should have asked the YSRC MLAs to resign first like Mr. Jagan did after he parted ways with the Congress.
Former MLA Jogi Ramesh said cronies of Mr. Naidu were volunteering to resign to make place for the son Nara Lokesh. Instead of TDP MLAs resigning, he suggested that one of the defectors resign to make place for Mr. Lokesh.
Even YSRC floor leader in the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation B. Punysheela would be enough to defeat Mr. Lokesh in the Vijayawada West constituency, he said.
While former Minister Kolusu Parthasarathi and chief whip Samineni Udayabhanu were present at the meeting, former MLAs from the district Vangaveeti Radhakrishna, Perni Venkateswara Rao (Nani) and Burgadda Vedavyas were conspicuous by their absence.
Earlier, the leaders and activists went in rally from New India Centre in Gandhinagar to the venue of the meeting in a show of strength.
