A senior TDP leader from Mangalagiri Assembly constituency had resigned from the party on Wednesday alleging that he is being ill-treated by the leadership. Senior leader, Ganji Chiranjeevi, a BC leader, had been the official spokesperson of the party for quite some time.

Chiranjeevi had lost the Mangalagiri Assembly constituency in the 2014 elections. However, he had won as the council to the municipality and subsequently became municipal chairman. He was with Nara Lokesh in the 2019 general election and played an important role in the party’s campaign.

Chiranjeevi’s resignation comes hours after Nara Lokesh declared that he would contest from Mangalagiri in the next elections also. Lokesh discounted the campaign that he was looking for a safe constituency fearing defeat in Mangalagiri.

As if Lokesh’s statement has anything to do, Chiranjeevi sent his resignation letter to the party and addressed the media where he accused the party leadership of doing injustice to him. Chiranjeevi represents the dominant weavers’ community in the constituency.

Chiranjeevi is likely to join the ruling YSR Congress shortly, as is being speculated. He is the second senior leader in the constituency to leave the TDP. Former minister Murugudu Hanumantha Rao, also from the weavers’ community, left the TDP and joined the YSR Congress. He was later made the MLC.

Sources say that the YSR Congress had made some big promises to Chiranjeevi with an aim to defeat Lokesh again in the next election. Mangalagiri is one of the key constituencies where Jagan Mohan Reddy had set his eyes for the 2024 general elections.