Naidu Announces Party Nominees for MLC Polls

Vijayawada: Telugu Desam Party National President and Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu announced the names of three party nominees who will be contesting the forthcoming MLC elections, wherein voters will be members of the State Legislative Assembly.

The TD nominees announced on Sunday by the CM are B.T. Naidu (BC), Beeda Ravichandra (BC) and Kavali Greeshma (SC).

The MLAs can elect five MLCs. While TD is contesting three seats, its alliance partners Jana Sena and BJP will contest one seat each.

Deputy Chief Minister K. Pawan Kalyan has already announced that his party will nominate K. Nagababu, brother of Pawan Kalyan.

BJP is likely to announce the name of its candidate late Sunday night or Monday morning. BJP AP president and MP Daggubati Purandeswari is conferring with senior leaders on the choice of the party candidate. The main contenders for the post are Somu Veerraju and P.V.N. Madhav.

The five vacancies in MLC seats have arisen as terms of Yanamala Ramakrishnudu, Janga Krishnamurthy, Duvvarapu Rama Rao, B.T. Naidu and Ashok Babu will end on March 29.

Polling for the MLC elections is scheduled on March 20. Counting of votes will begin the same evening.

TDP has witnessed fierce competition for nomination as MLCs. Many of the aspirants approached top party leaders, including CM Naidu and IT minister Nara Lokesh. They include former minister Devineni Umamaheswara Rao, Vangaveeti Radha, former MLA S.V.S.N. Varma, who sacrificed his seat for Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan in Pithapuram constituency, Kommalapati Ravichandra, former minister K.S. Jawahar, Buddha Venkanna, former minister Mopidevi Venkata Ramana, who resigned from the YSRC Rajya Sabha membership and joined the TD, Peethala Sujatha, K.E. Prabhakar, Erasu Pratap Reddy, Reddy Subramaniam, Mallela Linga Reddy, Tippeswamy, Prabhakar Chowdary, Parasa Ratnam, A.S. Ramakrishna, Mantena Satyanarayana Raju, Rudraraju Padmaraju, Mohammed Nazir and Sheikh Nagul Meera.

The TD has selected one person each from the three regions of the state. BC community leader B.T. Naidu is from Kurnool district in Rayalaseema. He has been re-nominated as an MLC. Beeda Ravichandra is from the erstwhile Nellore district. Kavali Greeshma, daughter of former speaker Pratibha Bharathi from Srikakulam, is from the north coastal Andhra.

According to TD sources, TD AP president and MLA Palla Srinivas Rao phoned various aspirants. He assured them that they will be provided an opportunity in 2027, when seven MLC seats will fall vacant.