It appears the Bharatiya Janata Party has shut the doors on rebel YSR Congress party MP from Narasapuram Kanumuru Raghu Ramakrishna Raju, who has been trying to take shelter under the shadow of the saffron party all these days.
According to reports from New Delhi, the BJP has decided against entertaining Raju, after constant pursuance from the YSR Congress party leadership, which convinced the Centre that the rebel MP is of just nuisance value and doesn’t bring any value to any party he joins.
The filing of charge sheet by the CBI against Raju in Rs 947 crore bank default case and the latest state high court order permitting the Crime Investigation Department of Andhra Pradesh police to question him in various criminal cases are said to be an indication to the tough stand taken by the BJP against him.
And the last nail in the coffin was the deletion of Raju’s name in the protocol list of delegates attending Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s event at Bhimavaram. The PMO did not entertain his request for inclusion of his name in the delegation accompanying Modi.
At present, he has been able to avoid being disqualified only due to his proximity with Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, but he, too, might not save him for long. If there is more pressure from the YSRC, he may have to be disqualified from his Lok Sabha membership.
“So, the chances of Raju joining the BJP ahead of the next general elections and contest with the support of Jana Sena Party are very bleak. The BJP national leadership is not showing any interest in admitting him into the party. Otherwise, the party leaders would have come to his support by now,” a source in Delhi said.
Now, Raju has only two options: to join either the Telugu Desam Party or the Jana Sena Party.
Though Raju has been maintaining friendly relations with TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu, he may not get the party ticket for Narasapuram, in the event of the TDP forging alliance with the Jana Sena in the next elections.
Jana Sena is relatively stronger in West Godavari and hence, if the alliance with the TDP materialises, the Narasapuram seat might be allocated to the Jana Sena. So, it would be better Raju joins the Jana Sena and try for the ticket, sources said.
