Meera made urban TD chief: Vamsi dropped

Vijayawada: Telugu Desam had dropped the party's urban unit president Vallabhaneni Vamsi Mohan, a supporter of film actor Junior NTR. Vamsi has been facing a rough weather in the party for some time for his relationship with the legislator Kodali Nani from Gudivada, who left the party and joined the YSR Congress. Besides this, the TD had started to erase the image of Junior NTR and dropping Vamsi was the second step that the party had initiated in the last fortnight. The party had first sent directions to the rank and file to keep off from the Junior NTR's visit to the city a fortnight ago. The leadership, at the behest of Nandamuri Balakrishna, had issued strict telephonic directions to the party cadre to avoid Junior NTR's trip and now stripping Vamsi from the urban president post is the second step in the direction of erasing the young actor's image from the party. Vamsi is a close friend of Kodali Nani and Vangaveeti Radha Krishna, who are now in the YSR Congress and most TD leaders admit in private that Vamsi too would follow their friends one day. In fact, rumours were afloat when Vamsi met YS Jaganmohan Reddy in the city some time ago. However Vamsi, on Wednesday, clarified that he would not join any political party if the situation forced him to quit the TD. In a statement sent to the media, he said he would continue in the TD and expressed confidence that the party chief N Chandrababu Naidu would take care of his political interests. "However, if my services are not required for the party, I would rather spend my time serving the people through my trust," Vamsi said. Incidentally, the TD had dumped its urban unit presidents in the past and Vamsi is not the first one. Earlier, Adusumilli Jayaprakash and KVP Basaveswara Rao were dropped from the posts unceremoniously after Chandrababu Naidu taking over the reins from NT Rama Rao. Both Jaya Prakash and Basaveswara Rao have left the TD later and joined the Congress and Lok Satta, respectively. However, due to pressures from the family members, Basaveswara Rao had returned to the party recently. Meanwhile, the party had named BC leader K Nagul Meera as the city unit president. He succeeds Vamsi Mohan. Meera, who started his political career in late 1990s, worked hard to get the elevation. He is getting ready to take over the charge in a big public meeting to be held sometime in April.