Kesineni Nani defies TDP again, drops hints on ditching party

VIJAYAWADA: Fed up with the Telugu Desam Party’s internal politics aimed at isolating him and the attempts to deny him renomination, Vijayawada MP Kesineni Nani has lashed out at the party satraps one more time in his own inimitable style.

In a display of open defiance against his party, for the umpteenth time, the prominent leader observed with disdain that the party could nominate any ‘Tom, Dick and Harry’ in his place. “If not me in Vijayawada, let the TDP party choose any ‘Pittala Dora’, I don’t care,” he told the media after inaugurating the compound wall of the boys high school in Mylavaram of NTR district on Wednesday, May 31, 2023.

When asked about his future plans, the TDP MP said that he could join any political outfit that suited his ideology amid speculation that he was leaning towards the YSRCP. “There are two political platforms in the state, the YSRCP and the TDP. The differences are only between YS Jaganmohan Reddy and Nara Chandrababu Naidu. I don’t have differences with anyone. I am free to meet anyone for the development of my constituency,” Nani said.

He further said that he won the elections in 2019 with the support of voters of all political parties. “I didn’t win the elections only with the TDP votes. I don’t crave to be the MP for 10 terms,” he said, adding that he had enough clout to do things without even becoming an MP. “I could even contest as an independent if the voters of the constituency ask me to do so,” Nani said.

Nani has stayed away from the recent TDP Mahanadu convention in Rajamahendravaram, giving rise to speculations that the beleaguered MP would soon leave the party for greener pastures. His recent meeting with YSRCP’s Nandigama legislator Monditoka Jaganmohan Rao also caused commotion among the TDP cadres. However, Nani trashed all those speculations.

Meanwhile, YSRCP Rajya Sabha MP Alla Ayodhya Rami Reddy welcomed the Vijayawada MP’s statement and invited him into the party fold. “Nani is a good person and a leader of the farming community. If he is coming to our fold, we welcome him,” he said speaking to the media.

Kesineni Nani, who has earned the nickname of an eternal rebel within the TDP, has been at loggerheads with Devineni Uma and Buddha Venkanna in the party’s Vijayawada politics. Making matters worse, the TDP leadership has reportedly been grooming his own brother Kesineni Chinni as Nani’s potential replacement as the party’s MP candidate in the 2024 elections. Unable to gulp down the rivalry coming right from his sibling and realising that the doors had effectively closed down for him in the TDP for his renomination, Nani is believed to be looking towards the ruling YSRCP.