It is only a matter of time that industrialist-politician Vemireddy Prabhakar Reddy, who resigned from the YSR Congress party and also his Rajya Sabha membership “for personal reasons” on Wednesday, will join the Telugu Desam Party.
Soon after his resignation from the YSRCP, Vemireddy had a meeting with former minister from Nellore Ponguru Narayana, apparently at the instance of TDP president and former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu.
According to sources, Vemireddy, while agreeing to contest from Nellore Lok Sabha constituency, has asked for the party ticket for Nellore (city) assembly seat as well for his wife Vemireddy Prashanti, who is also likely to come out of the YSRCP.
In fact, it is the dispute over Nellore (city) seat that Vemireddy had a confrontation with the YSRCP leadership.
As party president Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy denied the ticket to Prashanti and gave it to Md Khaleel Ahmad, a close aide of sitting MLA P Anil Kumar Yadav, Vemireddy got upset and finally quit the party.
From the TDP side, Narayana is the strong contender for Nellore (city) seat, which he had represented between 2014 and 2019. So, when Vemireddy is asking for the same seat for his wife, Narayana is in a piquant situation.
Finally, during the talks with Vemireddy, the former minister has agreed to sacrifice the seat for Prashanti and the deal was struck. Narayana might be offered the MLC seat or some other important post, if the TDP comes to power in the state.
Apparently, Narayana has business connections with Vemireddy. It is learnt, on many occasions, Vemireddy had helped Narayana financially.
“Maybe, because of this gratitude, Narayana decided to sacrifice the seat for Vemireddy’s wife,” sources said.
