Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu.
Credit: PTI File Photo
Amaravati: Stating that BC leader R Krishnaiah's resignation from Rajya Sabha will not weaken YSRCP, the party on Tuesday alleged that he had joined hands with TDP supremo and Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu to do so.
YSRCP leaders P Anil Kumar Yadav and K Karumuri Nageswar Rao expressed disappointment over the resignation and alleged that Naidu was "purchasing" leaders.
"Chandrababu is using such tactics to cover up his failure in providing effective governance... Krishnaiah's actions would not weaken the YSR Congress Party and the public would definitely respond strongly and teach a lesson when the time comes," said the YSRCP leaders in a release.
According to Yadav and Rao, Naidu's alleged purchasing of opposition members is destabilising the state and undermining democracy.
They asserted that former CM YS Jagan Mohan Reddy had given an opportunity to Krishnaiah, who hails from neighbouring Telangana, with the hope that he would work for the upliftment of BC communities, despite having several capable leaders within YSRCP.
The YSRCP leaders noted that Reddy had trusted Krishnaiah to represent the voice of BCs in the national capital and Parliament and thus he gave him the Rajya Sabha seat.
Meanwhile, Krishnaiah said that he has been fighting for increasing quotas for backward classes in local bodies and other issues of the BCs. He said that he had quit the RS post to take forward his efforts in an apolitical way.
He further said that he was being seen as a YSR Congress leader.
Amid a stream of desertions from the YSRCP, Krishnaiah's resignation on Tuesday is the latest. YSRCP Rajya Sabha MPs M Venkataramana Rao and B Mastan Rao Yadav quit their posts recently.