Three Members of Parliament from the ruling Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP) in Andhra Pradesh — Vijay Sai Reddy, Mithun Reddy and Margani Bharat, met Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Thursday and renewed their call for disqualifying rebel MP Kanumuru Raghurama Krishna Raju. "We submitted additional evidence to the Speaker with regard to our petition to disqualify Narasapuram MP Raghurama Krishna Raju," said Rajya Sabha member and senior YSRCP leader V Vijayasai Reddy. Nearly a year has passed since the ruling party first asked Birla to disqualify Raju.
The Narasapuram MP continues to enjoy a rapport with most of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders in the national capital. On Wednesday Raju met Birla in his office and called it a 'courtesy call'. He also met Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat. "Met Union Jal Shakti Minister Shekhawat and discussed the current situation in the state," claimed Raju. He also met Kishan Reddy after his swearing in as a Union Cabinet minister and 'congratulated' him.
Meanwhile, Vijay Sai Reddy, Mithun Reddy and Bharat commemorated former Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy's 72nd birth anniversary with orphans at Bal Sahyog in Delhi. Raju also paid tributes to Rajasekhara Reddy, father of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, against whom he is waging a political battle. "On the occasion of the birth anniversary of a king-like person and a man with a heart, Rajasekhar Reddy, I pay my tributes," said Raju. Sporting a white shirt, a full moustache and neatly dyed wig, Raju featured in and disseminated two videos eulogising the late and popular CM.
According to Raju, if anybody 'commented' on Rajasekhara Reddy, the latter would just laugh away those comments and never resort to any vengeance or aggressive retaliation, in what seemed to be a jibe at Jagan Mohan Reddy.
Recently, a group of Dalits from Garagaparru village who claimed to have voted for the Narasapuram MP lodged a complaint with the police in Andhra, demanding his arrest for failing to fulfil the promises he made during elections. They complained that the MP is always absent. For the past several months, Raju has been mostly dividing his time between Hyderabad and Delhi, ignoring his Narasapuram constituency where several villages continue to suffer from lack of even potable drinking water. Raju was booked for sedition by the Crime Investigation Department (CID) of the Andhra police earlier in May. He was treated in the Secunderabad Army Hospital before being granted bail by the Supreme Court.
With IANS inputs