Rajya Sabha MP Vemireddy resigns from YSRCP over ‘personal reasons’
Senior YSR Congress Party leader and Rajya Sabha member from Andhra Pradesh, Prabhakar Reddy Vemireddy resigned from party
Hyderabad: Senior YSR Congress Party leader and Rajya Sabha member from Andhra Pradesh, Prabhakar Reddy Vemireddy, on Wednesday resigned from the primary membership of the party and as Nellore district party president post, citing “personal reasons”.
Vemireddy also quit his Parliament membership and sent his resignation letter to Rajya Sabha chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar. He said he had sent his resignation. There is no information from Delhi whether it was accepted or not.
In his letter to YSRCP president and chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, Vemireddy said he has decided to resign from the post of Nellore district party chief and quit the party for “personal reasons”. “I have also resigned from my Rajya Sabha membership,” Vemireddy said in a statement released to the media.
Vemireddy, who was recently declared a YSRCP candidate from Nellore Lok Sabha seat for the upcoming general elections, was sulking ever since the party high command ignored his request to change certain candidates in the assembly segments, as they were opposing him as the district party president.
According to a senior YSRCP leader familiar with the matter, Vemireddy prevailed upon Jagan to shift sitting Nellore (city) P Anil Kumar Yadav to Narasaraopet Lok Sabha constituency. He was upset with the party for nominating Md Khaleel Ahmed, a close aide of Yadav, as the party candidate in the latter’s place.
“Jagan also did not entertain Vemireddy’s request to give a party ticket to his wife Vemireddy Prashanti from Nellore. Miffed with the party ignoring his demands, Reddy called off his poll campaign and went into exile. Since then, he has been avoiding the chief minister and stopped taking part in the party activities,” the leader said, seeking anonymity.
The leader added that Vemireddy held discussions with Telugu Desam Party (TDP) president N Chandrababu Naidu and is likely to join his party soon.
Vemireddy is the fourth parliamentarian to quit the YSRCP – the other three are Lok Sabha members Lavu Sri Krishna Devarayalu from Narasaraopet, Sanjeev Kumar from Kurnool and Vallabhaneni Balashowry from Machilipatnam MP over a period of last one month.
In Nellore itself, the YSRCP lost three MLAs – Kotam Reddy Sridhar Reddy (Nellore-rural), Mekapati Chandrasekhar Reddy (Udayagiri) and Anam Ramanarayana Reddy (Venkatagiri), who shifted loyalties to the TDP in the last one year.
YSRC Rajya Sabha member Y V Subba Reddy said there is no loss to the party with the resignation of Vemireddy. “Those who joined the TDP or Jana Sena will have no future at all,” he said.
TDP politburo member and former minister Somireddy Chandra Mohan Reddy said the resignation of Vemireddy was an indication that the YSRCP leaders were leaving the party due to a lack of faith in Jagan Mohan Reddy’s administration.
“We welcome into the TDP for the welfare of Andhra Pradesh,” he said.
