Radha to join YSR Congress on April 27

VIJAYAWADA: Ending the speculation and suspense, former MLA Vangaveeti Radhakrishna has declared that he will join YSR Congress on April 27 in the presence of party chief and Kadapa MP Jaganmohan Reddy.Addressing a press conference at a hotel here on Thursday, Radhakrishna said he would be joining the YSRCP since his family was neglected by the Congress. “My father and our family were not shown any respect by the Congress though my father strengthened the party. Not even his photograph can be found in Gandhi Bhavan. It shows how much respect is given to a leader who toiled for the party and won many seats for it,” he said.Recently, Ranga Radha Mitra Mandali, an association of the followers of Ranga family, has announced that its leader will be joing Jagan’s party. Radha, who was elected to the Assembly for the first tme in 2004 from Vijayawada East on Congress ticket, contested the subsequent election 2009 on Praja Rajyam ticket but lost the election. Though he had been in the PRP till the party’s with the Congress, he remained more or less politically inactive. After the merger he did not take membership of the Congress because of his differences with ruling party leaders.For Jagan, Radha fits the bill as he is a strong Kapu leader in the coastal districts. With byelections not far off, he is expected to woo Kapu voters in Guntur and W Godavari where the community’s votes are crucial for any party to win. Radhakrishna’s father, the late Vangaveeti Mohanaranga Rao held sway over the Kapu community not only in the coastal districts but also elsewhere in the state, and his family is still revered by people.Radhakrishna is holding talks with some former  corporators, who had sailed with him when he was in the Congress, to take them into the YSR Congress.