Former APCC president Botcha Satyanarayana is miffed. He is keeping away from the ongoing bus yatra of senior leaders in Seemandhra region after making a token presence in Vizianagaram last week.
Close aides of the former PCC chief maintain that he had politely turned down an invitation from APCC chief N. Raghuveera Reddy and the manifesto committee chairman, Anam Ramanaryana Reddy, to attend the public meeting in Nellore on Tuesday.
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Excusing himself on the grounds that he has some personal work and that he has to concentrate on his home district of Vizianagaram, Mr. Satyanarayana did not join the bus yatra. Interestingly, he left for New Delhi in the afternoon to meet the AICC leadership although the bus yatra is set to conclude in Kurnool on Thursday.
Mr. Satyanarayana is upset at the manner in which the high command had decided to constitute the two separate PCCs for Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. Initially, it was decided that there would be two regional Congress committees. Mr. Satyanarayana was assured that he would continue to be the PCC chief while the two regional committee chiefs would work under him. He feels that apparently at the instance of some top leaders in the Rahul Gandhi camp, the decision went against him, leading to announcement of two separate committees. Sources said since then, Mr. Satyanarayana has been maintaining a low profile barring his presence when the TPCC and APCC chiefs took charge.
Party leaders maintain that he has not been actively involved in party activities for some days now except for attending a couple of meetings to plan the campaign strategy. Party circles strangely find change in his attitude adding to rumours that he has deliberately kept away from the bus yatra.
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Amid these developments, speculation is rife that he was looking at the BJP. But sources close to the former PCC chief refuted the reports claiming that he has no such plans to switch his loyalty to the saffron party.