In a swift move, YSR Congress president and chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy showed the door to former minister and Venkatagiri MLA Anam Ramanarayana Reddy. The chief minister named Nedurumilli Ram Kumar Reddy as the party coordinator for the constituency represented by Anam Ramanarayana Reddy.

Ramanarayana Reddy, who has been sulking for not taking him into the cabinet, had intensified his attack on the state government. He is using the public platform to criticise the government and in a short period, he had earned the name as another Raghurama Krishnam Raju for the YSR Congress.

Ramanarayana Reddy criticised the government headed by Jagan Mohan Reddy for not developing the state. He said that the party would not win the election just because the government is paying pensions. He made several hard-hitting comments against the party leadership and the government.

On Tuesday, Ramanarayana Reddy said that the party would not win the next election scheduled in 2024. He said that the party had lost the faith of the people and it would not win the election held any time from now.

The party leadership reacted swiftly to these damaging remarks by the sitting MLA. Jagan Mohan Reddy had directed the party to announce the name of former chief minister Nedurumilli Janardhana Reddy’s son Ram Kumar Reddy to take care of the party affairs in the Venkatagiri constituency.

It is now to be seen what step Anam Ramanarayana Reddy would make following his removal from the party position in the constituency.

AP Chief Minister and ruling YSR Congress president Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy had made up his mind to drop at least 40 sitting MLAs for the 2024 general election. He had given enough indication to these MLAs in the last four months.

Jagan Mohan Reddy held two rounds of meetings with the party MLAs, district unit presidents and the regional coordinators in the past where he named some of the MLAs who were not performing well. He also announced the names of some MLAs who were not taking part in the door-to-door campaign that was started by the party and the state government as well in March 2022.

The chief minister has asked every MLA to visit every house and get feedback. While a good number of MLAs have taken active part in the programme, it was noticed that these MLAs were not showing any interest, despite Jagan Mohan Reddy’s cautions.

Former minister and MLA Anam Ramanarayana Reddy is said to be one of these 40 non-performing MLAs whom Jagan Mohan Reddy had warned at the party internal meetings.

Ramanarayana Reddy had been inactive for the past some time as he was denied a cabinet berth in the recent reshuffle. Though Ramanarayana Reddy expected a cabinet berth immediately after the 2019 general election, he was disappointed.

Some of the senior leaders along with Ramanarayana Reddy expected that they would be accommodated in the next reshuffle. However, in that too, they could not find a place leading to disappointment.

Ramanarayana Reddy hardly took part in the door-to-door campaign despite repeated warnings from the party leadership. However, this week, he addressed two meetings in his home constituency where he criticised the state government for its failures.

Sources say that Ramanarayana Reddy is likely to switch loyalties to the opposition TDP before the 2024 general elections.