The senior leader of TDP, Rayapati Sambasivarao has created distress within the party of TDP with his latest remarks on the joining of Kanna. The ex-MP took a drastic U-turn in supporting Kanna’s entry into the TDP.
Rayapati Sambasivarao was one of the TDP leaders who welcomed Kanna’s decision of joining the TDP and not less than a month ago, he spoke positively about Kanna if he chooses to travel with the opposition party of AP. Today Lakshimarayana officially wore the TDP badge in the Guntur party office and this has sent Rayapati into immediate distress. He has reportedly spoken against Kanna’s presence at the party and declared that the latter had criticized CBN many times by calling names. Not stopping there, the ex-MP of Narasaraopet also claimed that the ex-BJP leader dragged him to court. In this regard, Rayapati changed overnight and stated that he would not associate and work with Kanna anymore, shocking the leaders of TDP.
However, the core TDP leaders who have been observing Rayapati for quite a long time opine that YSRCP is behind Rayapati’s sudden change in words. They stated that Rayapati almost left TDP to join YSRCP as the Chief CBN didn’t initially give the ticket to this senior leader stating his old age but later finally gave the ticket, only to lose the Narasaraopet MP seat. So they suspect the same YSRCP might lure him again as the elections are approaching. Meanwhile, Rayapati is demanding the MLA seat for his son Rayapati Ranga Rao and passed a strict request not to allocate the MP seat to any leader from the Kadapa district.