Vijayawada, Jan 5 (IANS): The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) has decided not to give a ticket to Vijayawada MP Kesineni Srinivas in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections.

This was revealed by the Lok Sabha member himself through a social media post recently.

This comes amid reports that Srinivas, popularly known as Kesineni Nani, is planning to switch loyalties to the BJP.

The MP claimed that the TDP chief, Chandrababu Naidu, had directed him not to be involved in the party affairs.

He said on the direction of Naidu, former minister Alapati Raja, NTR District TDP President Nettem Raghuram and former MP and Krishna District TDP President Konakalla Narayana Rao met him and directed him not to involve himself in party affairs.

They informed him that Naidu had appointed someone else as incharge of the public meeting scheduled in Tiruvuru town on January 7 as he wanted to give an opportunity to someone else as the Vijayawada Lok Sabha candidate.

Srinivas assured them that he would abide by the party leader’s directions.

Srinivas was elected as MP from Vijayawada Lok Sabha constituency in 2014 on a TDP ticket and was re-elected from the same constituency in 2019.

Meanwhile, TDP leader Kesineni Chinni, who has been appointed as in-charge of the Tiruvuru public meeting, has clarified that he had nothing to do with Srinivas’ Facebook post.

Stating that he was just a common worker in the party, Chinni said his goal was to ensure the success of the public meeting. Chinni remarked that minor differences in a family are common.