Prominent industrialist-turned-politician Dasari Jai Ramesh and his brother Dasari Balavardhan Rao, who defected to the YSR Congress party before the 2019 assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh, are said to be contemplating returning to the Telugu Desam Party.
Jai Ramesh and Balavardhan Rao are planning a programme for the unveiling of the statue of legendary actor N.T. Rama Rao’s wife, Nandamuri Basava Tarakam, in Vijayawada shortly.
Jai Ramesh announced that he had invited TDP president N. Chandrababu Naidu, his wife Nara Bhuvaneshwari, and all the other members of the Nandamuri family to the event.
“All of them have agreed to attend the programme,” he announced.
This has led to talk that Jai Ramesh and his brother are preparing the ground to return to the TDP fold. The Dasari brothers, who represent the strong Kamma community in Krishna district, have been sulking in the YSRC since they joined it in February and March 2019.
Dasari, who unsuccessfully contested the Lok Sabha elections on the Telugu Desam Party ticket from the Vijayawada parliamentary constituency in 1998, was expecting that he would get the YSRC ticket, but it went to Potluri Vara Prasad.
His brother Balavardhan Rao contested from the Gannavaram assembly constituency three times and won in 1999 and 2009 on the TDP ticket. But in 2014, he was denied the ticket despite being the sitting MLA. This led to strained relations with the party and, finally, a month after Jai Ramesh joined the YSRC, Balavardhan Rao, too, followed suit.
But both the brothers did not get what they expected in YSRC. So, they have been keeping away from YSRC activities. Now, they have found an opportunity to return to the TDP fold.
One wonders whether Naidu would entertain them by giving them party tickets. He already has tough contenders for the Vijayawada Lok Sabha seat and Gannavaram assembly seat. If the Dasari brothers join the party, they would make things complicated for Naidu.
It remains to be seen how they would readjust again in the TDP.
