Vijayawada: The BJP national executive member Kanna Lakshminarayana quit the party on Thursday after a long tiff with state party chief Somu Veerraju.
The former state BJP chief alleged that Veerraju subjected him to humiliation by resort to politics of revenge and corruption. He held a meeting with his supporters at his residence in Guntur and made the announcement thereafter.
In a letter to BJP national president J.P. Nadda, Lakshminarayana said, “I hereby submit my resignation from the primary membership of the party with immediate effect due to personal reasons and compulsions.”
The BJP senior leader had been removed from the post of AP chief to accommodate Somu Veerraju. Since then, he has been targeting Veerraju on every available opportunity and finding fault with him for “failing to lead the party property.” He was also critical of Veerraju for his “failure” to maintain good relationship with Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan.
Notably, the central BJP leadership had issued a gag order to him, when his criticism of Veerraju went beyond “tolerable levels” in recent times.
He told the media curtly, “I am not happy with the party being headed by Somu Veerraju. He is subjecting me to humiliation. If any party leader meets me, he will target him or her immediately. I can no longer tolerate such an indifference towards me and my supporters by Veerraju. Hence I have decided to quit the party.
I will meet my supporters and decide on my future course of action. I have not yet decided to join another party and whether to contest in the next polls and from where.”
Meanwhile, hints are that he is likely to join the Jana Sena but a problem is that Jana Sena is allied to the BJP in the state.
