Not all is well in the BJP in Andhra Pradesh. Its state president Somu Veerraju has been accused of corruption, that too by his predecessor Kanna Lakshminarayana who resigned from the party on February 16. Announcing his move, Lakshminarayana accused his successor of running the state unit in a chaotic manner and of indulging in revenge politics. In response, Veerraju has said, “There is nothing to say about his resignation. He has levelled allegations many times, but never proved anything.” A Kapu community leader, 65-year-old Veerraju was appointed BJP state chief in July 2020. He rose through the Sangh Parivar ranks and is steeped in the RSS ideology, with his appointment indicating that the BJP was falling back on leaders with a strong RSS background. Ahead of the 2014 Assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh, Veerraju was successful in convincing actor-turned-politician K Pawan Kalyan to join the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). This had helped N Chandrababu Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party — then part of the BJP-led alliance — to win by a thin margin. Veerraju became a strong opponent of Naidu ever since he criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi ahead of the May 2019 elections. While the BJP has an alliance with Pawan Kalyan’s Jana Sena Party (JSP), it is opposed to TDP joining the alliance. Kalyan, however, has been maintaining cordial relations with the TDP and Naidu. A blame game started in the BJP after Pawan Kalyan said that although his party was in alliance with the BJP, a “gap” had developed lately between the two parties. Those who agree with Kalyan feel that this was due to Veerraju cold shouldering Kalyan ever since he became BJP state chief. Nevertheless, all state BJP leaders declared their allegiance to Veerraju after Lakshminarayana’s attack, saying the latter had left because he was unhappy at not being given any important position. “He is making wild allegations and indulging in mud-slinging. Veerraju is just following the directions of the high command and running the party well. Barring Lakshminarayana, no one else is complaining,’’ said BJP leader B Siva Naryana.
