The internal rift among senior Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leaders came to the fore during a high-level meeting held in Vijayawada on Tuesday after former MLC Buddha Venkanna left the meeting midway. Leaders of the East and West Vijayawada region were said to have been sidelined in the joint Krishna District meeting of the TDP leaders.

It is reported that Buddha Venkanna was miffed as his photo was not placed in the Flexi banner on the stage. Even as Kollu Ravindra was calling him, Buddha Venkanna went and sat in the front row squeezing himself with other leaders on the sofa.

Even as the TDP leaders were speaking on the dais, he left the place along with Nagul Meera and his followers. Another senior TDP leader Varla Ramaiah tried to stop him from leaving, but he refused to heed and left. Another leader Gadde Ramohan’s followers were upset after he was not invited on to the stage.

When the media reporters questioned Buddha Venkanna for leaving the meeting, he remained mum and only stated he owed allegiance to the TDP Chief Chandrababu Naidu and that he was ready to give his life for him. When pressed further about his picture not being there on the Flexi banner, he said that for the first time he had tears in his eyes over the situation prevailing today. I am leaving midway because I have a party programme in Visakhapatnam, he explained.

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