Former Andhra Pradesh Bharatiya Janata Party president and former minister Kanna Lakshminarayana, who resigned from the party on Thursday, is understood to have decided to join the Telugu Desam Party.
Till the other day, there was a talk that Kanna would be joining the Jana Sena Party headed by power star Pawan Kalyan.
In fact, he made strong allegations against present BJP state president Somu Veerraju, saying it was because of the latter’s attitude that Pawan Kalyan was inclining towards the TDP.
He had even held discussions with Jana Sena Party political affairs committee convenor Nadendla Manohar a few days ago, triggering speculations that it is only a matter of time that he would take a plunge into the Jana Sena Party.
However, latest reports indicate that Kanna had a meeting with TDP president and former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu a couple of days ago and cleared the deal for joining the party.
According to sources, Naidu had agreed to field Kanna from Guntur (West) assembly constituency in the next elections, an assurance which he could not get from Pawan Kalyan during the negotiations.
“It was only after getting a firm assurance from Naidu that Kanna decided to join the TDP. He will make an announcement to this effect in a day or two,” sources said.
After submitting his resignation letter to BJP national president J P Nadda, Kanna blamed it on Somu Veerraju for his decision.
He said though he had all respect and admiration for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he was forced to quit the party because of the witch-hut by Veerraju, who he said, was running the BJP state unit like his personal fiefdom.
A five-time MLA of the Congress party – four times from Pedakurapadu assembly constituency and one time from Guntur (West) assembly constituency, Kanna served as a minister in various governments between 1991 and 2014. He defected to the BJP after losing the 2014 assembly elections.
Kanna, who was also a national executive member of the party, headed the state BJP between May 2018 and August 2020 before he was replaced by Veerraju.
He said he had been completely sidelined in the party and had not been taken into confidence in taking any decision.
