The exit of Yarlagadda Venkat Rao from the YSR Congress party was not totally an unexpected development in Gannavaram assembly constituency, but the impact of his exit certainly caused tremors in the party.
Yarlagadda, who has been sulking for quite long time, quickly jumped into the Telugu Desam Party and was chosen as the party candidate from Gannavaram in the coming elections.
And he showed his strength by mobilising huge crowds to the Yuva Galam padayatra of TDP general secretary Nara Lokesh early this week.
The people turned up in large numbers not exactly for Lokesh, but for Yarlagadda, who wanted to show his strength.
Now, the YSRC has become alert on the development and decided to do the damage control.
Sources said party president Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy was not happy with the way sitting MLA from Gannavaram constituency Vallabhaneni Vamsi handled the things after Yarlagadda’s exit.
So, Jagan has decided to stem the rot by preventing other senior leaders from Gannavaram to follow Yarlagadda into the TDP.
On Saturday, he sent party MP from Machilipatnam V Balashowri to appease another prospective rebel candidate Dutta Ramachandra Rao and prevent him from crossing the fence.
Dutta, who had lost to Vamsi in 2014 assembly elections, had been the in-charge of the YSRCP in 2019. Jagan had apparently promised that he would be made an MLC and fielded Yarlagadda in 2019 against Vamsi.
But after Vamsi, who was elected on the TDP ticket in 2019, joined the YSRCP, troubles began for Yarlagadda and Dutta.
Vamsi completely dominated the YSRCP in Gannavaram and sidelined both Dutta and Yarlagadda. Added to this, Jagan also ignored both the leaders and encouraged Vamsi to tackle the TDP.
Now that Yarlagadda joined the TDP ahead of the assembly elections, there is a talk that Dutta also might follow him, as he was facing humiliation in the hands of Vamsi. That is precisely why Jagan sent Balashowri to appease Dutta.
After spending more than an hour with Dutta, the YSRCP MP said both of them were staunch followers of late Y S Rajasekhar Reddy and he was confident that Dutta would abide by the principles of YSR.
Dutta, however, said he had explained his position to Balashowri.
“Whatever I told Jagan about my situation in the party in the past, I explained the same to Balashowri. There is nothing more to add,” he said.
Apparently, Dutta has refused to cooperate with Vamsi in the next elections. But he did not reveal his future plans – whether he would remain in the YSRCP or defect to the TDP like Yarlagadda.