Senior YSR Congress party leader and former minister Dharmana Prasada Rao is said to be upset with the reports that he is planning to quit the party and join the Jana Sena Party soon.
According to sources close to Dharmana, he has expressed anguish over the reports about his defection to Jana Sena Party.
“I have no such plans whatsoever and I shall continue to sail with the YSRCP as long as I am in politics,” he is said to have told his close associates.
However, party sources said Dharmana has not been actively taking part in the party activities since it lost the assembly elections in 2024.
There were reports in December last year that his son Dharman Ram Manohar Naidu was contemplating joining the Jana Sena. But it has not materialised till now.
In fact, in September 2023 itself, Dharmana announced that he wanted to retire from politics and won’t contest the elections again.
“I would like to take rest for the rest of my life,” he told reporters then.
He said that he had already informed party president Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy about his decision but Jagan had asked him to contest the elections for the last time in 2024.
Dharmana said that he cannot work in politics any more.
“Having entered into politics at a very young age, I had contested elections for 12 times and have been here for 40 years,” he said, adding “in politics, there will not be much difference between victory and defeat.”
After losing the elections in the hands of TDP candidate G Shankar, Dharmana has become quiet in politics.
Maybe, he is thinking of retiring from politics, rather than jumping into other parties for political survival.
