When he was in the Congress party, former minister Kanna Lakshminarayana was one of the important leaders wielding a lot of influence.
He used to be in the forefront in attacking the Telugu Desam Party and its president N Chandrababu Naidu.
But after the bifurcation of combined Andhra Pradesh, the Congress lost its glory and so did Kanna. He was forced to join the Bharatiya Janata Party and rose to the position of the party president in Andhra Pradesh.
Yet, he did not get the same kind of attention which he was getting during the Congress regime in the combined Andhra Pradesh state. As the BJP itself had no relevance in AP, Kanna, too, was feeling like fish out of water.
Now, Kanna is forced to join the same TDP which he used to attack during his hey days. He is compelled to be at the mercy of Naidu, who he used to treat as a bitter enemy a decade ago.
At one stage, there was a talk that Kanna might join the Jana Sena Party.
Sources said he was, in fact, tempted to take up the offer from Jana Sena, after holding talks with his erstwhile Congress colleague and former Speaker Nadendla Manohar.
The Kapu factor was also one of the reasons for Kanna to consider joining the Jana Sena Party; in fact, he was under pressure from the community to choose the party, but after assessing all pros and cons, Kanna prefer to join the TDP.
According to sources, Kanna did not get any favourable response from Pawan Kalyan after the former parted ways with Bharatiya Janata Party. There was no call from the actor, who apparently expected Kanna to approach him and request him to admit in the party.
On the other hand, soon after Kanna left the BJP, TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu deputed his senior colleague and former minister Alapati Rajendra Prasad to invite Kanna into the TDP.
Apparently, Alapati conveyed the message of Naidu to Kanna that the latter’s entry into the TDP would strengthen the party in Guntur district.
The TDP chief also agreed to the demands of Kanna to give him the party ticket from Pedakaurapadu or Guntur (West) assembly constituency.
At the same time, Kanna also felt that it would be better to work with an experienced leader like Naidu, rather than a leader of inconsistency like Pawan Kalyan.
If the alliance between the TDP and Jana Sena materialises, it would be a double advantage to Kanna, sources said.
