In her first remarks after being appointed as the president of BJP's Andhra Pradesh unit, former Union minister Daggubati Purandeswari on Thursday said her aim was to work towards safeguarding the "interests of the state and Andhrites".
Purandeswari met BJP president JP Nadda in New Delhi on Thursday. Taking to Twitter, she expressed her heartfelt gratitude for the trust put on her.
"I assured him of my unwavering commitment towards the responsibility. Even as I work to strengthen BJP in AP, I shall also work towards safeguarding the interests of AP and Andhrites," she said.
On July 4, Daggubati Purandeswari was appointed as the state BJP chief for Andhra Pradesh. The BJP also named new state chiefs for Telangana, Jharkhand and Punjab.
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Daggubati Purandeswari, the daughter of former Chief Minister and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) president NT Rama Rao, joined the Congress in 2004. She was elected twice to the Lok Sabha on a Congress ticket and served as a minister in the UPA government.
However, she and her husband quit the Congress party in 2014 due to their dissatisfaction with the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh. In 2014, she contested the Rajampet Lok Sabha seat on a BJP ticket but lost to the YSRCP's PV Midhun Reddy. In the 2019 elections, she unsuccessfully contested from the Visakhapatnam Lok Sabha constituency.
Purandeswari's appointment as BJP president was welcomed even by leaders of Opposition parties. YSRCP leader and minister Roja supported her appointment even though she rued the fact that none of the family members of NTR were taking the reins of the party founded by him.
"NTR's fans would have been happy if Purandeswari had taken control of TDP," Roja was quoted as saying by IANS.
Senior Congress leader and former minister U Arun Kumar refrained from making political comments about Purandeswari's appointment but praised her at a personal level, describing her as soft-spoken and respectful towards others.