As the YSR Congress party’s attempts to appease veteran Kapu leader and former minister Mudragada Padmanabham have failed to yield any results, party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy appears to be looking towards former MLA and Kapu leader Vangaveeti Radhakrishna.
Mudragada has been upset with the YSRCP for lack of response from Jagan, after he was promised the party ticket from Kakinada parliamentary constituency, besides Pithapuram or Jaggampet assembly ticket to his son Dorababu.
But when there were reports that Mudragada had got in touch with the Jana Sena Party and the Telugu Desam Party leaders, Jagan immediately sent his envoy Thota Trimurthulu to convince the Kapu strongman and tell him that the party would give him nomination to Rajya Sabha.
Mudragada, however, was unrelenting and decided to join Jana Sena or the TDP, according to the situation developing after seat sharing talks between the two parties.
Jagan has no option but to look for another stronger leader to appease the Kapu community. So, he is looking up to former MLA Vangaveeti Radhakrishna, who has been keeping away from the TDP activities and in touch with YSRCP leaders like Kodali Nani and Vallabhaneni Vamsi.
Though Vangaveeti has not spelt out his stand, there are speculations that he would be given the party ticket from Vijayawada (East) or even the Lok Sabha seat from Machilipatnam.
At present, Machilipatnam parliamentary seat is being represented by Vallabhaneni Balasouri, but he may not be given the ticket again as per the survey reports. He is also getting ready to quit the party. So, there are no hurdles for Jagan to give the Machilipatnam seat to Vangaveeti.
It remains to be seen whether Vangaveeti will take the bait of Jagan and quit the TDP.
