Even as congratulatory messages are pouring in for former Union minister Daggubati Purandeshwari for being appointed as the president of Andhra Pradesh BJP, senior Congress party leader and former Rajya Sabha member K V P Ramachandra Rao expressed his sympathy over her choice.
“I pity her. She has been made a scape goat. She has to cut a sorry figure before the people on behalf of the BJP for doing injustice to the state in the last nine years,” KVP said, while speaking to reporters.
KVP said the BJP had no base in Andhra Pradesh and it could not get even 0.5 percent of votes in the last elections.
“This is going to come down further in the next elections to be held in 2024,” he said.
On the other hand, the TDP appears to have heaved a sigh of relief after Purandeshwari’s appointment.
Even as TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu has been desperate to restore ties with the BJP and get back into the NDA fold, BJP leaders in AP, particularly Somu Veerraju have been attacking him and the TDP consistently.
The TDP leaders are of the view that Veerraju has been hand-in-glove with the YSR Congress party and was making statements supporting Jagan Mohan Reddy.
Against this backdrop, the appointment of Purandeshwari in place of Veerraju would give some relief to the TDP.
The party leaders are hoping that unlike Veerraju, Purandeshwari might take an aggressive stand against the YSRCP and it would help consolidate the anti-establishment vote in the state.