Former TDP leader who has history with Nara Lokesh held, page out of ‘Red Book’, say rivals

The attack has invited accusations by the YSRCP against the TDP of indulging in “vendetta politics” and targeting its leaders. “We also put up an exhibition in Delhi last year to showcase the killings and murders of our leaders that have taken place since Chandrababu Naidu became CM. The arrest of Vamsi garu is in line with the TDP government’s vendetta politics. These are diversionary tactics to take people’s attention away from real issues,” former minister said.

Vamsi, a postgraduate in veterinary sciences, is a film producer and, before his foray into politics, helmed the production of Adhurs, starring Junior NTR – part of the extended NTR family, including Naidu – in 2010. In 2014, Vamsi made his electoral debut, contesting and winning from the Gannavaram Assembly seat on a TDP ticket. He retained this five years later again on a TDP ticket, even in the face of a YSRCP sweep which saw the Jagan-led outfit win 151 of the 175 Assembly seats.

However, Vamsi then fell out with Naidu and his son Nara Lokesh, the TDP general secretary who is now a minister. In 2020, Vamsi quit the party to join the YSRCP, where his tenure has remained controversial since. He has come to be known as part of a group of leaders, including Kodali Nani, Anil Kumar Yadav and former minister Roja, who have made aggressive personal statements against TDP leaders.

In 2021, Vamsi’s claims against Lokesh in an interview snowballed into such a controversy that Naidu broke down in the Assembly and vowed to return to the House only after being elected as the CM.

In last year’s Assembly elections, Vamsi lost from the Gannavaram seat to the TDP’s Yarlagadda Venkata Rao by a big margin of over 37,000 votes. This was a double blow for Vamsi as he is also fighting a case in court accusing him of an attempt to murder Rao.

Some in the YSRCP have linked Vamsi’s arrest to a ‘Red Book’ Lokesh waved around during the Assembly campaign, claiming it contained names of officials and the TDP’s political rivals and warning them of legal consequences if the party came to power.

A district office-bearer of the TDP in Guntur said this may be the case, but added: “No one can deny that a massive attack took place on our central office in Mangalagiri and a lot of YSRCP leaders were involved in it. They need to face the consequences of their actions.”

Denying any link between Vamsi’s arrest and Lokesh’s ‘Red Book’, a senior TDP leader in neighbouring Vijayawada said: “The YSRCP had resorted to hooliganism during its five-year tenure. We have not ‘created’ any cases. These are cases which have been there for a long time. The law is just taking its course.”

Incidentally, Vamsi’s arrest was based on a complaint filed by a computer operator belonging to the Dalit community at the TDP office, Satyavardhan, who recently told a special SC/ST court in an affidavit that he had nothing to do with the case. Later, he made a U-turn and claimed that he was threatened by Vamsi and forced into giving that statement.