Kesineni Swetha said her resignation was in protest against the TDP 'humiliating' and 'disrespecting' her father Kesineni Nani.
Published Jan 08, 2024 | 11:49 PM ⚊ Updated Jan 08, 2024 | 11:49 PM
Kesineni Swetha with TDP supremo Chandrababu Naidu. (Supplied)
TDP leader Kesineni Swetha resigned from the post of corporator of the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) on Monday, 8 January, protesting against the party “humiliating” and “disrespecting” her father, Kesineni Nani.
Swetha, representing Ward 11 in the VMC, said she would quit the party once her resignation has been accepted.
Earlier, Nani announced his decision to resign from the Lok Sabha after the TDP appointed his brother Kesineni Chinni, an MP aspirant, as in-charge for the public meeting in Tiruvuru.
“Neither of us wants to leave the TDP but with the party showing clear signs of bias, we are left with no option but to leave the party with a heavy heart,” Kesineni Swetha told reporters.
Kesineni Srinivas, aka Nani, a two-time MP from Vijayawada, was one of the three TDP candidates who won the 2019 Lok Sabha elections despite a YSRCP wave.
However, a rift between Nani and the party’s leadership developed after he was denied any key position in the party despite winning for the second time. Though he sought the post of TDP parliamentary party leader or floor leader, he was overlooked in favour of Guntur MP Galla Jayadev and Srikakulam MP Rammohan Naidu.
Later, Nani was offered the party whip post in the Lok Sabha. However, he felt humiliated due to the delayed announcement and rejected the offer. Later, he started throwing barbs at TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu.
Nani had also sparked rumours of joining the BJP after he visited Nagpur to meet Union Minister Nitin Gadkari. However, his plans did not materialise.
Since then, he has been a staunch critic of Naidu, and his absence from TDP scion Nara Lokesh’s prestigious padayatra, Yuva Galam (Voice of Youth), raised doubts about his commitment to the party.
Meanwhile, Nani’s brother, Kesineni Sivanath, aka Chinni, a realtor from Hyderabad, developed a rapport with TDP leadership and actively started involving himself in the party’s activities. He is being seen as an alternative to Nani.
Chinni also enjoys the support of a section of TDP leaders in Vijayawada who are not happy with his brother’s style of functioning.
Reportedly, both brothers have a rift over assets, and Nani had even filed a case against Chinni in Hyderabad for misusing his MP car sticker.
However, after Naidu’s arrest, there has been a change in Nani’s approach to the party. He started becoming involved in party affairs and spent time with Lokesh in Delhi while Naidu’s case was being heard in the Supreme Court.
On 3 January, during a Joint Action Committee meeting with alliance partner Jana Sena in Tiruvuru constituency, Nani and Chinni were involved in a public spat.
Chinni, along with his followers, went to the party office to attend the meeting. Some followers of Nani stopped him and questioned the absence of Nani’s picture on the banners. This resulted in a fight between the followers of the siblings, and cases were filed against 34 TDP members.
A day later, Nani took to Facebook and revealed that the party leaders, including former minister Alapati Raja and NTR district president and former minister Nettem Raghu Ram, conveyed to him that TDP chief Naidu had appointed someone — referring to Chinni — as the in-charge and that he was asked not to involve himself in party affairs.
Considering this a humiliation, Nani announced that he would soon resign from the party after submitting his resignation to the Lok Sabha Speaker.
The party tried to pacify him, but he insisted that he would stay only if he was renominated from the Vijayawada Lok Sabha segment. But with the party favouring his brother over him, the talks failed.
చంద్రబాబు నాయుడు గారు పార్టీ కి నా అవసరం లేదు అని భావించిన తరువాత కుడా నేను పార్టీలో కొనసాగటం కరెక్ట్ కాదు అని నా భావన
కాబట్టి త్వరలోనే ఢిల్లీ వెళ్లి లోకసభ స్పీకర్ గారిని కలసి నా లోకసభ సభ్యత్వానికి రాజీనామా చేసి ఆ మరుక్షణం పార్టీకి రాజీనామా చేస్తానని అందరికీ తెలియ చేస్తన్నాను . pic.twitter.com/dFq85E4SxG— Kesineni Nani (@kesineni_nani) January 5, 2024
Meanwhile, TDP Rajya Sabha MP Kanakamedala Ravindra Kumar too requested Nani to continue in the party on 6 January. But, he reiterated that he would contest as an independent if the party did not nominate him.
