It looks like the BJP national leadership has decided to overhaul the party unit in Andhra Pradesh in an apparent bid to emerge as a potential force in the state.
Hours after the sacking of former minister Kanna Lakshminarayana as the state BJP president, the party leadership served notices on several leaders who have speaking in the media against the party line, in violation of the party orders.
Senior BJP leader A Sriram, who is heading the party unit in Visakhapatnam and another leader Lanka Dinakar, who had defected from the Telugu Desam Party to the BJP last year, were among those who received show-cause notices from the party’s disciplinary committee co-convenor Subrahmanyam.
Apparently, these leaders have been taking part in the television debates and speaking against the party line on various issues.
For example, Lanka Dinakar reportedly made comments even on the internal party matters before the media.
The sudden removal of Kanna Lakshminarayana from the state BJP president post and replacing him with firebrand MLC Somu Veerraju is also believed to be part of the overhauling exercise, sources said.
Veerraju, who took charge as the state party president, sought to project that everything is perfect in the party. He said there was no truth in the reports that Kanna was sacked.
“My appointment is part of the nationwide exercise to replace the state BJP presidents with new faces. There is nothing unusual about it,” he said.
He, however, said in the BJP, individuals won’t matter but the overall party was more important.
He declared that Jana Sena Party would continue to be the closest ally of the BJP and he would strive to strengthen this bond between the two parties.
Veerraju announced that the party would take an aggressive approach against the YSR Congress party government in the state.
“We shall expose corruption in the ruling party and we have already started fighting against the irregularities in land sites distribution programme,” he said.
