BJP national president Amit Shah has appointed former AP minister Kanna Lakshminarayana as the new Andhra Pradesh BJP president.
According to informed BJP sources, Lakshminarayana was appointed as the state party president, and Somu Veerraju, MLC, has been appointed as the state convener of the BJP Election Management Committee.
The BJP high command also appointed Ravindra Raina, MLA, as president of the Jammu & Kashmir BJP with immediate effect.
Elated over his appointment, Lakshminarayana expressed his gratitude to Amit Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Speaking to mediapersons, Lakshminarayana said that he would spare no efforts to strengthen the party in the state and lead it towards victory in the next year's general elections.
Asserting that the development of the residuary state would be possible only with the BJP, Lakshminarayana said that he would explain to the people of the state the Central government's assistance to it, and turn the tables on the party's critics.
He also reiterated that the BJP high command was committed to fulfilling all its promises made to the state.
Lakshminarayana was previously a strong Congress leader, and had been elected MLA five times from Guntur district. He had also served as a minister in the Congress government of united AP. After losing the 2014 elections, Lakshminarayana, who hails from the Kapu community, quit the Congress to join the BJP.
The AP party president post fell vacant when MP K Hari Babu tendered his resignation on April 17.