Kanna Lakshminarayana joins BJP

Hyderabad: Nov 5: Severing his 40-year-long association with the Indian National Congress, former minister Kanna Lakshminarayana Wednesday joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)in Vijayawada. BJP's State president and Visakhapatnam MP K. Haribabu was present on the occasion. Lakshminarayana, who was a five-time MLA, served as a minister in the cabinets of late YS Rajasekhara Reddy, K. Rosaiah and N. Kiran Kumar Reddy. His name was also being considered for the chief minister’s post after Kiran Kumar Reddy defied the party diktat on the issue of separate Telangana. While joining the BJP, Lakshminarayana said he was never after power. He claimed he was offered the post of the PCC president. However, he rejected the post as he was convinced that Congress party was doomed in the State. Lakshminarayana said some more Congress leaders in Guntur district had expressed their intent to join BJP. He then said he would strive for strengthening BJP by expanding its reach to the masses. Lakshminarayana’s son, Kanna Nagaraju, who was a former mayor of Guntur, and Guntur Cooperative Urban Bank Limited (GCUBL) Chairman Kothamasu Srinivasa Rao also joined BJP.