Internal bickering in the East Godavari district unit of the party has turned out to be a major cause for concern for the BJP ahead of the visit of party national president Amit Shah to Tadepalligudem in West Godavari district.
Mr. Shah will be addressing farmers at Tadepalligudem on November 26 to highlight the good work being done by the Narendra Modi government at the Centre.
The State unit of the party has decided to make arrangements on a large scale by mobilising at least one lakh farmers for the event. It has asked the representatives of East and West Godavari district units to work in tandem. The East Godavari district unit is expected to mobilise at least 25,000 people.
All is not well with the party’s East Godavari unit with leaders washing their dirty linen in public of late.
The cadre and leaders are divided because of the rift between the party’s State unit and MLC Somu Veerraju.
Party State Committee members Pydah Krishna Mohan, Ungarala Chinababu, Yuva Morcha secretary Yarlagadda Ramkumar, and Rajamahendravaram MLA Akula Satyanarayana are among those who are questioning the decisions of Mr. Veerraju.
The differences were to the fore during the recent visit of Union Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu to the city as both the groups made separate arrangements for the meeting. As Mr. Venkaiah Naidu has many acquaintances in the district, the meeting witnessed moderate crowds.
But the case of Mr. Amit Shah is quite different. The party leaders and cadre have to take care of the arrangements.
“Unless the issues are sorted out and Mr. Veerraju withdraws his unilateral policies, it is difficult to strengthen the party in the district. For now, the Telugu Desam Party may take care of crowd mobilisation. But in the long run, the party should strengthen its base,” an opponent of Mr. Veerraju told The Hindu on condition of anonymity.
Supporters of Mr. Veerraju, however, blame the dissidents for the state of affairs.
