Former Andhra Pradesh president of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Kanna Lakshmi Narayana resigned from the primary membership of the party on Thursday, February 16, blaming his successor Somu Verraju for his decision. Lakshmi Narayana was a national executive member of the BJP at the time of his resignation. He is also a former Minister in united Andhra Pradesh. In a letter to BJP national president JP Nadda dated February 16, Lakshmi Narayana wrote that he was resigning from the party due to personal reasons. “I hereby tender my resignation to my primary membership of the party with immediate effect due to my personal reasons and compulsions,” he wrote in the letter which was also copied to present BJP Andhra Pradesh president Somu Veerraju.
Speaking to the media, Kanna Lakshmi Narayana said: “In 2014, I was attracted to Narendra Modi’s leadership and joined BJP. Since then, whichever position I was given, I’ve been working for the party. In recognition, I was made the AP BJP chief in 2018… After the COVID-19 pandemic, Somu was made the chief. Since then, conditions in the state are not good. Since I’m opposed to the state BJP leadership and am unable to integrate into it, I am resigning,” he said. He added that some of his followers were also quitting the party along with him, and he would announce his future plans after discussions with them. Lakshmi Narayana also said the sole reason for him quitting was because “Somu Veerraju’s behaviour is not right,” and that the leadership held grudges against party leaders.
Somu Veerraju replaced Lakshmi Narayana as the president of the BJP state unit in July 2020. Lakshmi Narayana held the post for two years before that, taking charge about a year before the 2019 general elections. At the time, reports had suggested that the BJP leadership was miffed with a letter that Lakshmi Narayana had written to outgoing Governor Biswabhusan Harichandan urging him to not give assent to the Bills that would enable the YSRCP government to implement its proposal to have three capitals. It was reported that Kanna's letter had upset the BJP national leadership as the letter 'echoed' the TDP’s stand on the YSRCP government's capital Bills.