Former minister and senior Congress leader Dr Daggubati Venkateswara Rao met with YSRCP chief Jagan Mohan Reddy at Lotus Pond in Hyderabad on Sunday. Their meeting comes just days after Venkateswara Rao’s son Hitesh Chenchuram made his intention to contest the 2019 elections in Andhra Pradesh on a YSRCP ticket.
Speaking to the press after the meeting, Rao made his intentions of joining the YSRCP clear. The former Congress leader told media, “Our son has decided to work under the leadership of YS Jagan Mohan Reddy. When we informed Jagan about the same, he was quite happy about the decision.”
When media persons asked how Jagan responded to his request to join the YSRCP, Rao replied saying that the party was yet to take a call on it. “From the last couple of years, I have been observing Jagan’s personality, his padayatra and interviews. I wish all his hard work will pay off.”
Earlier in June 2018, when Jagan set out on his padayatra, Rao had praised the YSRCP leader for his initiative. The former minister is the husband of Daggutatti Purandareswari, daughter of TDP founder NTR. She was also a former MP and minister. She later quit the INC to join the BJP and she is presently the Andhra Pradesh BJP’s manifesto committee chairperson.
When asked about the possible backlash his family might face from opposition members about Purandareswari being in the BJP, Rao replied, “We’re all ready to face it and fight back. In the worst case scenario, she (Purandareswari) will submit her resignation to the BJP and stay away from politics. But she will not join any party.”
Purandareswari fought the 2014 polls from Rajampet Lok Sabha segment on a BJP ticket and lost.
Their son, Hitesh, who is presently in the United States, is expected to relinquish his US citizenship and likely to be given the Parchur MLA seat, which his father once held.