Nobody knows better than Telugu Desam Party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu in using and throwing leaders.
When Naidu feels any leader is not of any use to the party, irrespective of his seniority and popularity, he will not hesitate to dump them and discard them without showing any sympathy.
That is why more and more senior leaders are deserting the TDP and looking towards YSR Congress party.
The latest example is former Union minister of state for steel Sai Pratap. The six time MP from Rajampet in Kadapa has found himself in a miserable position after joining the Telugu Desam Party three years ago.
Despite being a popular leader in the constituency, Naidu did not even consider his name for the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.
What is worse, Sai Pratap was not given any position or post in the party and Naidu ddid not bother to respect his seniority. All these years, he had been treated as an ordinary party worker.
Having no other way, Sai Pratap announced his resignation from the TDP on Saturday.
“I get tears when I think about my position in the TDP all these years. There had been no respect for me and my seniority. Naidu called me to Amaravati and took me into party, but humiliated me by not giving me any responsibility,” Sai Pratap said.
He is most likely to join the YSR Congress party. Since he was one of the close confidants of late Y S Rajasekhar Reddy, he might feel comfortable in joining the party of YSR’s son Y S Jaganmohan Reddy.
Meanwhile, another MLA – Mani Gandhi from Kodumuru assembly constituency, also quit the TDP on Saturday and returned to his parent party YSR Congress party.
Gandhi was one of the 23 YSRC MLAs who had defected to the TDP in the past. He was denied the TDP ticket this election.
