Kanna resigns from BJP, hits back at Somu Veerraju

Vijayawada: National executive member of Bharatiya Janata Party and former Minister Kanna Lakshminarayana on Thursday resigned from the party spitting venom against State president Somu Veerraju.

A leader from the powerful Kapu community, Kanna, a five-time MLA and veteran leader from Guntur district, after resigning from the Congress joined the BJP on a call by then BJP national president Amit Shah. Incidentally, he decided to join the saffron brigade after raising speculation that he will defect to YSR Congress Party in 2018, a year before the general elections.

After joining the BJP, he was named to succeed K Haribabu, who was the Andhra Pradesh unit president at a time when TDP left the NDA. Kanna told the media that he did not like the style of functioning of Veerraju and alleged that he was pursuing his personal agenda converting BJP into his personal fiefdom. He accused both Veerraju and BJP MP G V L Narasimha Rao of going soft against ‘anti-people’ policies of the YSRCP Government.

The differences between Kanna and Veerraju deepened after the latter sacked six district presidents appointed by the former.