Congress, BJP city units functioning sans heads

Vijayawada: The president post in two main political parties in the city units of BJP and Congress are lying vacant. BJP city president D Umamaheswara Raju was suspended by the party leadership a few months ago.

The post was lying vacant since his suspension. Similarly, City Congress party president Akula Srinivasa Kumar resigned for his position due to internal disputes. Later, the party leadership did not take any initiative to fill the president post.

Indeed, the two political parties want to improve their strength in the city as it assumed political significance after the state bifurcation and Amaravati capital city development.

The two political parties have already shifted their state party functioning base to Vijayawada city. The BJP opened its state party office in the city.
Similarly, the Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) also separately opened state party office on the premises of city party office Andhra Ratna Bhavan.

The APCC leadership renovated the city party office building for operating the state party affairs. But incidentally, the president post is lying vacant in two political parties. Actually, Malladi Vishnu was president for the City Congress in the past. He tendered resignation to the Congress and joined YSR Congress.

The party leadership immediately replaced Akula Srinivasa Kumar as new president. But he also resigned after a few months due to internal disputes with the other leaders. The PCC leadership could not appoint new president in his position.

The BJP is also facing similar problem. Earlier, a few leaders used to compete for the post. But later various sections of people joined the BJP and now they are in the race to grab party chief post.

Likewise, D Umamaheswara Raju also joined BJP and was elected as city president. But he could not continue his position. He was suspended by the party leadership due to group politics. BJP state president Kanna Lakshminarayana revoked the suspension recently. But he did not appoint new president for the city unit.

On the other hand, YSR Congress appointed two presidents for city party affairs. Former MLAs V Srinivas and Malladi Vishnu are continuing as president and working president. Earlier, MLA Jaleel Khan and former MLA V Radha Krishna also led the city party affairs. But Jaleel Khan joined Telugu Desam.

Now the three groups are controlling the city party affairs. Significantly, the situation has turned headache to state party leadership of three political parties, said political analyst A Brahmaiah.