Left taking a right turn in Khammam district

HYDERABAD: Is the Left taking a right turn? Going by the exodus of a large number of leaders and activists of CPI, CPM and CPI (ML) into BJP in Khammam district, it appears so.
Ahead of BJP working national president JP Nadda’s visit to Hyderabad on August 18, many Left leaders and activists are joining the saffron party. Prominent among them is Vooke Abbaiah, who won the Illendu seat on a CPI ticket.
B Prabhakar Reddy, BJP district president, told TOI that 2,500 leaders from common Khammam district would be joining BJP in the presence of Nadda on August 18.“A meeting will be held where several leaders and cadres belonging to the Left parties will be joining our party,” he said.
In the common Khammam district, BJP had 80,000 members and 45,000 members in Bhadradri Kothagudem district. “During the recent membership drive, we have added 40,000 additional members,” Prabhakar said.
Sources said the BJP leadership took the membership drive aggressively to every nook and corner of the district and succeeded in roping in members from various parties, especially the Left, which ruled the common Khammam district for a long time.
Former CPM office-bearer Ramachandra Naik, who has joined BJP recently, said that members from tribal community and panchayats are joining the party in big numbers. For starters, BJP had never won a Parliament or assembly election in Khammam district. It does not even have a representation in the municipalities. “A politically strong district like Khammam is certainly witnessing winds of change as far as political realignment is concerned,” an analyst said.
A top BJP leader said the separate Telangana slogan had never resonated in this region because the Left parties and Kamma community, which backed TDP, had strongly opposed formation of a separate state. “We will milk it to our advantage and emerge as a strong alternative to TRS,” he added.