Failing to ensure Pawan Kalyan's defeat, Jagan Reddy party leader changes name
Failing to ensure Pawan Kalyan's defeat, Jagan Reddy party leader changes name
Keeping his vow made during the Andhra Pradesh poll campaign, senior YSRCP leader Mudragada Padmanabham has officially changed his name to 'Padmanabha Reddy', PTI reported.
The septuagenarian leader had promised that he would change his name if he failed to ensure the defeat of Janasena chief Pawan Kalyan in the Assembly polls.
Pawan Kalyan won the Pithapuram seat in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly elections by a margin of over 70,000 votes.
Kalyan's Janasena had stitched up a pact with the BJP and Chandrababu Naidu's TDP for the polls and the alliance stormed to power in the state. Kalyan, popularly known as 'Power Star', has been made the deputy Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh.
During campaigning for the polls, Padmanabha had challenged that he would defeat Kalyan.
Speaking to the media about his name change, Padmanabha said, ""Nobody forced me to change my name. I have changed it on my own volition."
However, the YSRCP leader said Pawan Kalyan's fans and followers were allegedly abusing him.
"The youth who love you (Kalyan) are incessantly dropping expletive messages... This is not right. Rather than abusing, do one thing... eliminate us (all family members)," he said.
Padmanabham, a Kapu community leader and former minister, joined the YSRCP a few months before the elections.