Former senior TDP leader Dadi Veerabhadra Rao and his son Ratnakar formally joined the YSR Congress on Saturday in the presence of honorary president Y.S. Vijayamma. Mr. Veerabhadra Rao made the announcement after meeting party president Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy in Chanchalguda jail.
Later, he called on Ms. Vijayamma at her Lotus Pond residence where he was formally admitted into the party and presented a YSRC scarf. Earlier, emerging out of the prison, Mr. Veerabhadra Rao was all praise for the Kadapa MP. “What I heard about Jagan and what I saw today is totally different,” he said.
“When I was in TDP, there was no scope to know the other side of the allegations. Now the facts are before me. I have decided to sail with the YSRC and stand by the YSR family. He noted that having spent 11 months in the jail, there was a determination in Jagan to do something for the people.”
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By coincidence, three senior leaders from Anakapalli constituency -- former Minister and YSR Congress CGC member Konathala Ramakrishna, Anakapalli MP Sabbam Srihari and Mr. Veerabhadra Rao -- who do not get along well with each other are in the same party.
YSRC leaders maintain that Jagan had made a strategic move to utilise the services of the former TDP veteran. He could even be used to counter the campaign against Bro. Anilkumar and his wife Sharmila on the Bayyaram mines issue considering that Mr. Veerabhadra Rao had levelled serious allegations against the YSR family.