N Chandrababu Naidu pushes Uma Maheswara Rao to prevent Ravi's defection'

Vijayawada: News of Yalamanchili Ravi’s proposed defection to the YSRC has prompted the Telugu Desam headquarters to launch damage control exercises.
Telugu Desam chief N. Chandrababu Naidu has directed minister Devineni Uma Maheswara Rao to conduct a dialogue with Yalamanchili Ravi as he doesn’t want a division of Kamma votes in the capital region segments in the 2019 elections.

Yalamanchili Ravi held a meeting with his followers at his residence on Tuesday evening. Interestingly, the meeting was attended by a group of Kapus who claimed to be close to Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan. These Kapus reportedly urged Mr Ravi to join the Jana Sena keeping in mind the huge Kapu vote bank in the Vijayawada East segment. Mr Ravi reportedly heard their proposal but did not say anything in response.

Minister for Water Resources Devineni Uma Maheswara Rao had a telephonic conversation with Saibaba, the MD of Siti Cable, who is a relative of Mr Ravi.
The minister urged Mr Saibaba to convince Mr Ravi not to make any political decision in haste as it might hurt common interests. It has been learnt that the minister promised Mr Saibaba that he would organise a one-on-one meeting of Mr Ravi and Mr Naidu as soon as the CM returned from New Delhi.

“The Telugu Desam is worried about a possible split in Kamma votes in the capital region as Yalamanchili Ravi has a huge following of Kammas,” a Telugu Desam leader from the city said. He added that Mr Ravi’s exit from the Telugu Desam would be a major setback for the ruling party in the capital region. Meanwhile, a few former bureaucrats had also inquired about Mr Ravi’s decision to quit the Telugu Desam.