SVSN Varma miffed, but resolves to stand by CM

Varma has been serving the party for the past two decades and he opted to enter the fray in Pithapuram for the 2014 elections. But the TD gave the assembly ticket to Pothula Venkata Viswam, a correspondent of some educational institutions. Varma contested from the constituency on his own, won the seat with a huge majority and joined the Telugu Desam again.

In the 2019 elections, TD gave him the ticket for the seat, but was defeated by YSRC candidate Pendem Dorababu. In the 2024 elections, the Pithapuram seat went to Jana Sena and the party chief Pawan Kalyan won it with a huge majority.
When the seat was allocated to Jana Sena, Varma’s followers strongly reacted and abused TD leaders N Chandrababu Naidu and Nara Lokesh and burned TD flexes.

Chandrababu Naidu called Varma and promised him an MLC post. Thereafter, Varma has been waiting for the nomination. But, this time too, he missed the bus.

Meanwhile, on Monday, Varma convened a meeting with party cadres and said that there were problems with the TD high-command in allotting the posts to the leaders. At the constituency level, when candidates are chosen for MPTC or ZPTC
posts, the local leaders should make strong efforts to select them. At the state level, the party high-command was faced with many challenges in the present environment.

“I understand such issues. We have been travelling with Chandrababu for the past 23 years and the cadres stood by the party during the crisis time too. I and my family members along with the cadres will abide by the orders of Chandrababu and Lokesh. We will help the party cadres when they are in difficulty,’’ he said.