Andhra Pradesh BJP president Kanna Lakshminarayana was replaced by Somu Veerraju recently. It is not a shocker to the people who follow the political developments of AP.
The central BJP leadership was not happy with the workstyle of Kanna for a long time and they reportedly planned to send him home in March. But the decision got delayed due to the corona crisis.
The death of his daughter-in-law and corona infection to Kanna have delayed proceedings further.
There are several main reasons for shunting him out from the leadership according to the political observers.
Let us have a look at the main points.
1. He is an opportunist. He became a minister with the recommendation of N G Ranga. He continued the journey with Kotla and Nedurumalli. He joined hands with YSR, Rosaiah, Kiran later.
He got tempted with BJP High Command’s offer before the elections and joined the party. But he started working for Chandrababu indirectly after the elections.
2. It is an undeniable fact that one can’t talk about politics without talking about caste in Andhra Pradesh.
With the changed political equations in the state, he has to bring Kapus to the BJP fold. But he was happily chanting the TDP slogans rather than strengthening BJP by securing Kapu community support.
3. Party has at least some strength only in Vizag. When the same city is announced as the Executive Capital and the central government clarified that they will not interfere in the internal affairs of the state, he opposed it.
He sought permission from the central leadership for writing a letter against the decision, they gave him permission but they have shown the reaction now.
4. He left every opportunity to strengthen the party to the TDP. He encouraged the leaders who were migrated to BJP from TDP and he distanced the leaders who are working for BJP for the last 30 years.
Moreover, he suspended them without taking the permission of central leadership.
He wrote letters to the media asking them not to invite those leaders. He encouraged some party leaders to come up with social media posts that criticize and trouble Central leadership.
5. He criticized the state government whenever he gets a chance so that it will trouble the central government and BJP central leadership.
There are many other issues like his comments on capital area lands, criticizing the AP government for corruption even though corona test kits were acquired for lesser price than the ICMR prescribed rate.
He gave permission to Kamineni in the Election Commissioner issue and it has turned negative for him.
Rs.30 crores party fund was not properly accounted in the last elections fought under his leadership.kanna