In a swift and surprising development, former minister and Bharatiya Janata Party Andhra Pradesh unit president Kanna Lakshminarayana was on Monday night, shunted out of his post.
He was replaced by firebrand BJP leader and member of Andhra Pradesh state legislative council Somu Veerraju as the party president.
The appointment was made by BJP national president Jagat Prakash Nadda, according to a communication from national BJP general secretary Arun Singh.
“The appointment comes into effect immediately,” the communication from Singh said.
Hailing from an agriculturist family in East Godavari district, Veerraju was the president and general secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha in Andhra Pradesh for a quite long time.
Later, he was elevated to the BJP state committee as its general secretary and vice-president.
Veerraju had been an aggressive leader right from the beginning and was known for his vitriolic attack on the Telugu Desam Party led by N Chandrababu Naidu during the TDP regime.
He is also known for his soft stand towards YSR Congress party led by Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy.
The sudden decision to drop him from the post was a big blow to Kanna, though there has been a talk about the party being unhappy about him for quite some time.
Kanna was appointed by former BJP national president Amit Shah on May 13, 2018, but he has failed to strengthen the party since then.
There have been allegations that Kanna has been playing second fiddle to Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu by supporting the latter’s fight against the Jagan Mohan Reddy government in the state.
Moreover, there have been allegations against Kanna, along with former Union minister D Purandeshwari, had swindled the party money.
In fact, YSRC general secretary V Vijay Sai Reddy openly declared that he had all the accounts of the BJP – how much the central leadership had sent for the party candidates in the state in the last elections and how much Kanna, Purandeshwari had swindled and how much they had spent.
Sai Reddy went to the extent of alleging that Kanna had been sold out to Sujana Chowdary, a mole of Chandrababu Naidu, in the TDP for Rs 20 crore.
He said the saffron party should sack the “wicked jackals” like Kanna and Sujana Chowdary, who he alleged had been the “package” leaders of Naidu.