Bharatiya Janata Party floor leader in Andhra Pradesh assembly P Vishnu Kumar Raju is understood to be toying with the idea of joining the YSR Congress party before the next elections, if the suspicion of the Telugu Desam Party leaders is correct.
According to sources in the TDP, Raju who represents Visakhapatnam (North) constituency in the assembly, has realized that he might not be able to win the assembly seat in the next elections and hence, he is contemplating joining the YSRC.
In 2014, Raju was able to win the seat because of the support of the TDP as the BJP does not have much strength in Visakhapatnam.
In 2019, if the BJP does not sail with the TDP, it will be difficult for Raju to win the seat. Secondly, even if the BJP continues alliance with the TDP, it might not give him ticket again because he has been antagonizing the TDP for quite some time and making negative statements against chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu.
Even on Sunday, Raju spoke in support of YSRC president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy and came down heavily on the YSRC MLAs who had defected to the TDP without resigning to the party in which they got elected.
He demanded that the defected MLAs offer their resignation. He questioned the ruling party over the continuation of MLAs in TDP without resigning to YSRCP before migrating and pointed out the unconstitutional procedure adopted by both the TDP and the defected MLAs.
“It clearly shows that Raju is parroting the words of YSRC leaders. The day is not far off when he quits the BJP and joins the YSRC with a hope to retain his seat,” a TDP source said.
