TDP president Chandrababu Naidu under pressure on release of 2nd list
Hyderabad: Telugu Desam president N. Chandrababu Naidu is under pressure both from his party leaders as well as from the Bharatiya Janata Party for making changes in the seat allocations to the poll partner, thus delaying the release of second list of candidates for Andhra Pradesh.
The TD leadership has been deferring the release of the list for the past four days under the pretext of local body polls in some of the areas, which concluded on Friday.
According to sources, Mr Naidu was facing two issues, the seat sharing with the BJP and accommodating his brother-in-law, film actor Balakrishna.The BJP has been pressurising Mr Naidu to take back Araku and Rajampet Lok Sabha seats and instead allot Kakinada. BJP senior leader M. Venkaiah Naidu requested the TD chief in this regard, said sources.
The TD leaders in Visakhapatnam, particularly former minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao, were having second thoughts once it was known that YSR Congress star campaigner Ms Sharmila would not be contesting. The TD had earlier allotted Vizag to the BJP and its leaders now want to take back the seat.
A senior party leader told this newspaper that there was a rethinking on allotting Visakhapatnam to the BJP. “In case we take back Visakhapatnam, we may allot Ongole to the BJP,” he pointed out.
There will, however, not be any changes with regard to the Assembly seats allotted to the BJP, he said.
On the other hand, Union minister of state Daggubati Purandeswari has been lobbying for a LS seat. “It seems she is prepared to contest even from Rajampet,” sources said, adding that the TD top leadership is against her candidature.
Sources said Mr Chandrababu Naidu was also not very keen on his brother-in-law contesting for Assembly but was ready to allot Hindupur if the actor insisted.
Meanwhile, many TD leaders thronged Mr Chandrababu Naidu’s residence with a request to not allot their segments to the BJP.
Former minister S. Vijayarama Raju, who recently shifted to the TD, met Mr Naidu and urged him to retain Pathapatnam. Former minister G. Buchaiah Chowdary also called on Mr Naidu urging him not to part with the Rajahmundry Urban seat. Mr Naidu, however, is in no mood to relent, sources said.
Another former minister, Mr Kodela Siva-prasada Rao, resigned to his fate and agreed to move to Sattupalli in Guntur district after Mr Naidu was firm on replacing him.There were also objections over allotting the Assembly seats of Tadepalligudem, Vijayawada (Central), Visakhapatnam, Kadapa and Anatapur to the BJP.
