Former Union Minister Dagubatti Purandeswari on Monday clarified rumours that she might quit the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), days after her husband and former state minister Daggubati Venkateswara Rao and son Hitesh Chenchuram, met with YSRCP chief Jaganmohan Reddy.
"Wherever the BJP will give me a ticket, I will contest in the Lok Sabha elections. This also means that I am not changing my party and I want to make it clear to the people," she told reporters at the sidelines of an event.
The daughter of Telugu Desam Party (TDP) founder and former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N T Rama Rao, Purandareswari fought the 2014 polls from Rajampet Lok Sabha segment on a BJP ticket and lost to YSRCP MP P V Midhun Reddy. Purandeswari, who is also the sister of TDP MLA and actor-politician Nandamuri Balakrishna, served as an MP from Bapatla and Visakhapatnam from the Congress, before joining the BJP in 2014.
Earlier this week. Speaking to the media after the meeting, Rao made his intentions of joining the YSRCP clear. The former Congress leader told reporters, “Our son has decided to work under the leadership of Y S Jaganmohan Reddy. When we informed Jagan about the same, he was quite happy about the decision.”
“From the last couple of years, I have been observing Jagan’s personality, his padayatra and interviews. I wish all his hard work will pay off,” he added.
Venkateswara Rao, who began his political career with the TDP, had supported Chandrababu Naidu during the internal party coup that was staged against NTR. However, he soon switched allegiance to NTR and has been a critic of Naidu since then, fading away from politics in the mid-90s. He resurfaced in 2004 after former CM YS Rajasekhara Reddy’s intervention and joined the Congress along with Purandeswari. After the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, Venkateswara went back to political oblivion.
Hitesh is likely to be given the Parchur MLA seat, which his father once held. The YSRCP is certain that Hitesh’s entry along with Venkateswara Rao’s support will help them in Prakasam district where the family enjoys influence.