In what is called a significant development for AP BJP and Janasena party alliance, Kanna Lakshmi Narayana was shunted out and Somu Veerraju was appointed as the new AP BJP president. Though it is an expected decision from the BJP high command it came all of a sudden and no one sensed this event which is quite unusual. However, it is such a crucial decision took by the AP BJP and there are some obvious reasons behind it.
Kanna Lakshmi Narayana was made the AP BJP president so that he can influence the BJP sympathetic voters and his own caste cadre even though he was an outsider. First things first, Kanna failed terribly as BJP’s working president. He couldn’t bring the BJP cadre altogether that was sprayed all over the state which is certainly a difficult task but that is what he was appointed for.
However, his main drawback is that, under his leadership, BJP was named as a sub-branch of the Telugu Desam Party. The allegations leveled by Rajya Sabha MP Vijaysai Reddy that the BJP leader sold himself to TDP for Rs 20 crore and BJP leader Y S Chowdary was the mediator, had a larger impact in his removal as party president.
Above all, Kanna failed to stand as an example to his fellow leaders. In 2019, he contested for parliament from Narsarao pet and lost the deposit. He came 4th by receiving 1.08% of all the votes polled. How can the high command trust a person who couldn’t secure his deposit? Of course, with Somu Veerraaju’s appointment as the new BJP Cheif, BJP wants to make aggressive inroads in Andhra Pradesh with the help of Janasena.
Previously, Veerraju was miffed with the party when Kanna was made the president and a few of his followers even quit the party and now the Saffron party is expecting an influential work from the same followers of him in AP. Somu has the knack of getting the most from his followers and that strength of him made him a prime contender for AP BJP President post.