No option except to quit party

Tirupati: In a setback to TDP, party senior leader and Siddhartha Group of Institutions chairman Konduru Ashok Raju resigned from the party on Thursday. Raju was once a close confidant of TDP supremo Nara Chandrababu Naidu and worked as a personal secretary and was active in the party for long. At a media conference held here on Thursday, Ashok Raju announced his resignation from TDP, as he was unable to digest party decision regarding party candidate for Nagari Assembly. He said that along with him, many leaders and activists suggested the party high command not to give ticket to Gali Bhanu Prakash as there was resentment among people. “However, the party supremo had ignored their suggestion and chose Bhanu Prakash as TDP candidate for Nagari Assembly, forcing him to quit the party. ‘Though it was very sad for me to leave the party with which I have been associated for long. I have no option but to leave the party,” he stated. Ashok Raju runs a group of institutions in Puttur Nagari area, his native place. He belongs to Kshatriya (Raju) community, whose population is more in this area. He also held many positions at State and district level in the party. Political pandits observed that Ashok Raju’s resignation from TDP may affect the party in the coming election, to some extent.