BJP’s Vizag LS aspirant welcomes Purandeswari

By SNV Sudhir

Visakhapatnam, March 6, 2014:  Purandeswari’s Thursday announcement of joining BJP and openly expressing her wish to contest from Vizag loksabha seat has set the stage for a turf war. Though rumours that Purandeswari along with her husband Daggupati Venkateswara Rao would be joining BJP, has been going on since sometime it was learnt that she will be contesting from Vijayawada loksabha seat.

However Thursday’s announcement has said to have irked another BJP’s Vizag loksabha ticket aspirant Kambhampati Haribabu. A BJP member since decades, Haribabu led the Seemandhra BJP leaders who met the party central leadership for a special package to Seemandhra region during the bifurcation process.  Until now Haribabu was the obvious choice for Vizag seat.

 However, Haribabu welcomed Purandeswari into the party. “It shows the BJP’s popularity in this region. I wholeheartedly welcome her into BJP. We want more MPs to see Narendra Modi as prime minister. And her entry would definitely add to party’s MP numbers. We are all happy with the groundswell support to Narendra Modi. Everybody knows it’s only Modi who can build Seemandhra and make it a prosperous state and another Gujarat,” he told this correspondent.

When asked about his plans to contest from Vizag, Haribabu said it would be decided by the party leadership. Haribabu further said there are some more leaders who are ready to join BJP like Purandeswari.

Sources close to Haribabu said that, Purandheswari would be given opportunity to contest from Vijayawada though she is interested in contesting from Vizag.