Adusumilli to join YSRCP

Vijayawada: Senior Congress leader and former legislator, Adusumilli Jayaprakash, is set to join the YSR Congress in the first week of May. He has reportedly severed ties with the local MP, Lagadapati Rajagopal, and bid adieu to his six-year long association with the Congress. A strong votary of integrated State, Jayaprakash, is set to join the YSR Congress Party along with business tycoon of this region, Potluri Varaprasad, who is aspiring for Vijayawada Lok Sabha constituency. The film producer-cum-financier is planning to enter Krishna district politics in the first week of May by starting an office for his PVP Foundation. Though the PVP Foundation event would be a low key affair, the business man plans to make his presence felt among the Vijayawadites through his latest Tollywood hit, Balupu, function. The team had selected spacious Andhra Loyola College grounds for the movie function, where he is said to introduce himself to the people here. Meanwhile, Jayaprakash told The Hans India that he had decided to quit Congress and join the YSR Congress only to work for the development of the district. He said that late Dr Y S Rajasekhar Reddy had done so much for the district, including Pulichintala Project, Polavaram canal, Krishna delta modernisation, School of Planning and Architecture, IIIT at Nuzvid, Krishna University, outer ring road for the city, Hyderabad-Vijayawada national highway and many more. However, these programmes were neglected after the unfortunate death of Dr Rajasekhar Reddy, which had pained him more. Jayaprakash, who started his political career in Youth Congress, joined the Telugu Desam in 1982 and won the Vijayawada East Assembly seat in 1983 elections. However, as a staunch supporter of Nadendla Bhaskara Rao, he sided with the latter in the 1984 August coup against N T Rama Rao. Later, he had returned to the Telugu Desam and served the party as its urban president. Attracted by the welfare programmes of Dr YS Rajasekhar Reddy, he shifted to the Congress and became close to the local MP, Rajagopal. He had championed the cause of integration movement and said that he would continue to be integrationist in the days to come.