Andhra Pradesh: BJP MP Hari Babu resigns as party state president

MLC Somu Veeraraju, MLA and former minister P Manikyala Rao,  former Congress leader Kanna Lakshminarayana and former union minister in the UPA government D Purandareswari are the frontrunners for the post of the state unit chief, according to party sources. Both Lakshminarayana and Purandareswari  had left the Congress and joined the BJP over the the issue of bifurcation of the state in 2014.

However, Veeraraju and Rao — who belong to the Kapu community — have a stronger chance as they are “old BJP hands”. The BJP, sources added, is keen to appoint a leader belonging to Kapu community as its head in the state.

Hari Babu, meanwhile, could be given another significant post at the Centre, sources said.

With the TDP breaking away from the NDA alliance, the BJP has decided to utilise those leaders who defected from the Congress and joined the party after the bifurcation of the state in 2014. The plan is to go aggressive against the ruling TDP in the state.

The BJP, which fought the 2014 election in alliance with the TDP, had won nine seats in the assembly (4.13 per cent votes) and three Lok Sabha seats in the united Andhra Pradesh. The new states were created on June 2, 2014.