In the run upto State Assembly elections, the BJP High Command constituted a BJP state manifesto committee in its efforts to retain Daggubati Purandeswari within the party, amid rumours of her plans to shift to YSR Congress party.
The Manifesto Committee will have Purandeswari as the Chairperson while former Chief Secretary IYR Krishna Rao has been appointed the Convener. Other members of the committee are P Vijaya Babu, MLC P N V Madhav, Dasari Srinivasulu, Shaik Mastan, Paka Satyanarayana, K Kapileswaraiah, P.Sanyasi Raju Murali, Sudhish Rambhotla and Prof. D A R Subrahmanyam.
The press release issued by BJP state president Kanna Lakshminarayana indicated that the committee will be preparing the manifesto of the party for the upcoming elections. The appointment comes at a time when the YSRCP had offered to give a ticket from Parchur to Purandeswari’s son Hitesh Chenchuram while Purandeswari and her husband Daggubati Venkateswara Rao also planned to jump ship as YSRCP had promised to offer her Vijayawada Lok Sabha ticket.
BJP’s attempts to stop its top leaders’ exodus are evident. Earlier, when Kanna Lakshminarayana was planning to join the YSRCP, the party leadership offered him the State unit President’s post. Recently, BJP’s Rajahmundry MLA Akula Satyanarayana quit the party to join Jana Sena while another MLA Ramakotaiah is also planning to join the TDP. Ahead of polls, there will be many more who will either quit the party or join it.
