Former MP Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy, who has reportedly decided to join the BJP, wants to take time to convince his followers on the virtues of joining the saffron party. Majority of his supporters are in favour of joining the Congress, but Ponguleti had other ideas. The former MP’s camp discussed the pros and cons of joining in BJP and Congress. The parties like YSRCP led by A P Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy and YS Sharmila’s party YSRTP were also considered.
Ponguleti believes joining the BJP will have a number of advantages. Firstly, he will have free hand in selecting party candidates in the erstwhile Khammam district from BJP. He had already announced the list of seven candidates for seven assembly segments without informing the party which he will join. The political pundits were surprised by the audacity of the politician. How can national parties like Congress and BJP accept such list, ask the observers .
It is a fact that the BJP had no base in any assembly segment in Khammam district. Muvva Vikjay Babu, DCCB former chairman and follower of Ponguleti, said, “BJP would have no other option other than inviting Ponguleti in case their leader showed interest in saffron party. We are considering different strategies and we had an invitation from Congress too”
It is learnt that the former MP started interacting with his followers and supporters asking for their opinion. The response from him after hearing the opinion of one of his followers is, “I will discuss your opinon anna before taking a decision.” At the same time, he expressed a little bit interest in joining BJP in the presence of his supporters. It is a kind of moulding of opinion of his followers. The core group of Ponguleti took various limitations that would arise should he join the Congress party. Senior leaders in Congress may create hurdles in every phase after he joined in it. Though there will be the same problem with the BJP, but it will be to a lesser extent.
The former MP may change his options if any invitation came from YS Jagan Mohan Reddy. At present, he prefers to interact with more and more people before finalising his strategy.
