Panchakarla Ramesh Babu quits YSRC, party Visakhapatnam district president post

Panchakarla Ramesh Babu apologised to his followers and others who were unhappy that despite he being the district president of the YSR Congress Party, he was unable to fulfill their minor obligations.

Panchakarla Ramesh Babu. File | Photo Credit:

Senior politician and former MLA Panchakarla Ramesh Babu has announced on July 13 that he has resigned from the post of YSR Congress Party Visakhapatnam district president and party membership due to his personal commitments and his inability to function as desired in the post.

He said that he came into politics with many hopes and dreams and felt that it was not right to continue in office when he was not in a position to fulfill them, so he resigned with immediate effect showing the resignation copy to the media, in Visakhapatnam, in a hotel on Thursday morning (July 13.)

He apologised to his followers and others who were unhappy that despite he being the district president of the YSR Congress Party, he was unable to fulfill their minor obligations.

Speaking to reporters on the occasion, Ramesh Babu said that he joined the YSR Congress party three years ago on the invitation of the party’s senior leader and Rajya Sabha MP Vijayasai Reddy. After that, he was given the responsibility of the party president a year ago. Since then, he extended his support to the party at his level and did justice to the tasks given by the party’s high command as much as possible.

However, he felt that he has not been able to do justice to the party for the past few months, and he failed to bridge the gap between the party’s secondary leaders and the party’s high command, especially with Chief Minister Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy. He said that the decision was based on his personal opinion.

Mr. Ramesh Babu also announced that he will soon decide on his future political plans after consulting his followers.

While replying to queries, Mr. Ramesh Babu denied that there were no misunderstandings between YSR Congress leaders, especially YSR Congress in-charge of North Coastal Andhra Pradesh Y. V. Subba Reddy as speculated in media, behind the decision.

“I am a soft person. I don’t like to maintain any animosity with anyone wherever I work,” Mr. Ramesh Babu said.

When questioned, he also denied that there were no leaders including Ganta Srinivasa Rao from the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) behind him to make the decision.

On the other hand, political sources are of the opinion that Mr. Ramesh Babu had been eyeing the Pendurthi Assembly seat, for which YSR Congress has not given any favourable indications so far. This could be the reason behind his resignation.

Mr. Ramesh Babu may choose either Jana Sena or Telugu Desam Party to contest in the upcoming General and Assembly Elections to be held in 2024, sources close to him said.

Jana Sena is the only option if he wants Pendurthi seat, otherwise he has to choose Yelamanchili if he likes to join TDP, because Bandaru Satyanarayana Murthy of TDP is the potential candidate for Pendurthi. Mr. Bandaru has to sacrifice his seat if TDP wants to give a ticket to Ramesh for Pendurthi seat, a close follower, who was with Ramesh Babu in the press meet indicated.