Former Union minister Kotla Surya Prakash Reddy from Kurnool has postponed his plan to join the Telugu Desam Party along with his wife Kotla Sujathamma, former Dhone MLA, on February 28.
In fact, the Kotla group has made all the arrangements to hold a huge public meeting and decided to invite party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu, in whose presence he was planning to join the TDP.
However, following a suggestion from Naidu in view of the political situation prevailing in the district, Kotla had to postpone the entry plans. According to latest reports, Kotla would be joining the TDP on March 2.
Party sources said the postponement of Kotla’s entry is linked to the marriage of K E Pratap's son at Goa on February 28.
Pratap is the brother of Deputy Chief Minister K E Krishna Murthy and in the In-charge of TDP party affairs in Dhone.
This would mean KE brothers would not be present in Kurnool when Kotla would be joining the TDP. Besides, Naidu would also be going to Goa to attend the wedding.
Naidu thought the absence of KE brothers at Kotla’s joining function might trigger unnecessary speculations in the media as well as party rank and file in the district and it might lead to differences.
It is an open secret that the families of KE and Kotla had traditional rivalry in the district. So, absence of KE brothers will send wrong signals to the people and that would ultimately affect the party prospects.
Naidu felt that it was necessary for the two families to be present at the event wherein Kotla would be formally inducted into the party.
So he advised Kotla to postpone the event to March 2.
