TDP MP Kesineni Srinivas threatens to quit LS, party

After the desertion of four of his Rajya Sabha MPs, TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu on Monday faced a fresh problem from one of his Lok Sabha MPs who has theatened to quit as MP and the party.

"Chandra Babu Garu if you don't want people like me in the party you can let me know I will resign as Member of Parliament and also from the party membership. If you want people like me to continue please control your pet dog," TDP MP Kesineni Srinivas tweeted.

In a veiled attack on his fellow party leader and MLC Buddha Venkanna, Srinivas asked party chief Naidu to control his "pet dog". Srinivas and Venkanna both engaged in a war on Twitter since Sunday.

Hours after "pet dog" tweet, MLC Buddha Venkanna tweeted, "I am loyal to Chandrababu who gave me, a BC, the MLC chance. So whatever name you give is okay for me. I stop this Twitter war here, for the sake of Chandrababu and the party," he tweeted.

Srinivas, popularly known as Kesineni Nani, is one of the three TDP MPs in the Lok Sabha. He has been openly expressing his discontent on Twitter after he was not made the floor leader of the TDP in Lok Sabha.

On Sunday morning, Kesineni did a tweet, which was apparently a dig at Venkanna. Later, Venkanna slammed Srinivas as an opportunist while retweeting his tweet.

Venkanna said that Chandrababu needs workers akin to soldiers not opportunists. In a counter, the MP commented that some leaders will fall at the feet of Chandrababu Naidu one day and Vijayasai Reddy, a YSRCP leader close to Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, another day.

After that, the Twitter war between the two turned ugly and both leaders made severe allegations of corruption, cheating and other criminal activities against each other.

Reportedly, the TDP MP and MLC have not in good terms for a few months. Recently, the term of Vijayawada Municipal Corporation had expired. After that, Srinivas held a meeting with the outgoing TDP corporators.

In the meeting, Srinivas called on them to work for the candidature of Nagul Meera as TDP MLA in 2024 from Vijayawada West Constituency and work for his victory. Venkanna who has been expecting the same seat became furious in the meeting.