As senior TDP leader and former Union minister Pusapati Ashok Gajapathi Raju is back at the helm of the royal family trust of Maharaja Alak Narayan Society for Arts and Science (Mansas) by winning the legal battle, the YSRCP is said to be contemplating bringing back the royal family of Bobbili to pitch against him.
The Bobbili royal family has a traditional rivalry with Vizianagaram royal family headed by Gajapathis for several centuries. The rivalry continued even in politics.
Former MLA from Bobbili Ravu Venkata Sujaya Krishna Ranga Rao, who represents the royal family of Bobbili also has been a political rival of Ashok Gajapathi Raju.
Ranga Rao, who had been with the YSR Congress party from the beginning and was elected as the MLA on YSRC ticket in 2014, also had a rivalry with senior leader from Vizianagaram Botsa Satyanarayana.
In an attempt to counter Botsa politics in the district, Ranga Rao defected to the TDP later and became minister for mines in the Chandrababu Naidu cabinet.
In 2019 elections, Ranga Rao was defeated and has been keeping away from the TDP since then. Now, the YSRC leadership wants to bring Ranga Rao back into the party so as to counter Ashok Gajapathi Raju.
The party leadership of the view that the traditional rivalry between Bobbili and Gajapathi royal families would help decimate the TDP completely in the north coastal Andhra.
It is learnt Sujaya Krishna Ranga Rao is also interested in returning to the YSRC, but the only problem with him continues to be the dominance of Botsa family in the district.
If the YSRC leadership can rein in Botsa to some extent, the Bobbili royal family is ready to get back into the YSRC, say sources.
