Ambiguity over TDP’s support to BJP in Khammam LS polls

While BJP leaders assert TDP support in the Khammam Lok Sabha polls, TDP senior leaders maintain that the party high command has yet to make a decision on the matter.

Khammam: Even as BJP leaders here claim that they have support of the Telugu Desam Party in the Khammam Lok Sabha polls, senior leaders of the TDP insist that the party high command has not taken any decision on the issue.

It might be noted that the BJP candidate Vinod Rao, along with district president G Satyanarayana and others, visited the TDP district office here on Wednesday. They interacted with TDP district secretary Ketineni Harish and others seeking the party’s support in parliament elections.

---

A statement was released saying the TDP had extended support to Vinod Rao. It was said that the leaders of both the parties decided to work together for the victory of Rao in the election as the two parties were the partners of the NDA alliance. However, senior TDP leaders now differ with the statement saying that supporting the BJP candidate in the election would solely depend on the directions of the party high command and not on the district committee’s decision.

Speaking to Telangana Today, TDP State vice president Vasireddy Ramanadham stated that just because BJP and TDP have an alliance in Andhra Pradesh, the same would not be applicable to Telangana. He cited news reports wherein BJP State president G Kishan Reddy said there was no need of an alliance with TDP in Telangana.

He further noted that the request for TDP’s support had to be made through proper channel. The State committee and the party’s chief N Chandra Babu Naidu have the authority to decide the matter and not the district committee, he said, adding that there was no communication from the party’s high command regarding the issue so far. The issue of supporting BJP in Lok Sabha polls in Khammam has already been taken to the notice of the high command.

TDP State general secretary Kurapati Venkateshwarlu stated that a BJP leader telephoned him with regard to the party’s support in Khammam Lok Sabha election and he was told to approach the State committee. He expressed surprise how BJP leaders could visit the TDP office without following proper protocol and claim that the TDP has extended support in the election. Instead of visiting the district office, the BJP leaders should have approached the TDP State committee, he said.