Kakinada: The seat-sharing pact between the Telugu Desam (TD) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the Kakinada Municipal Corporation (KMC) polls seems to have left the latter disappointed.
BJP leaders asked their ally TD to allocate more than 12 divisions for them out of the total 48 divisions in the civic body elections. But the TD's decision to contest in the 39 divisions has left BJP leaders in for a rude shock.
TD leaders have agreed to share only nine seats for the BJP. But the woes of the ruling party at the Centre don't end there. The fact that in many of wards, where the BJP is contesting, TD rebel candidates are in the fray, disguised as independents.
Local BJP leaders accuse TD for not adhering to the coalition 'dharma' and trying to backstab them. Local BJP leaders said that Visakhapatnam (north) MLA P. Vishnukumar Raju alerted the BJP high-command.
Party sources said that Mr Kumar has taken the issue in a serious manner and also spoke to TD top brass to ensure TD rebels to withdraw their nominations. Out of the nine divisions allocated to the BJP, eight TD candidates have filed nominations as independents.
In the ninth division, where BJP district unit president Y. Malakondaiah is contesting, TD leader M. Appalakonda has filed nomination as an independent candidate. Similarly, TD leaders are in the fray in 47th, 29th, and 36th divisions .
Mr Malakondaiah said that they were hoping that TD rebels will withdraw their candidates from the contest. On the other hand, TD leaders said that BJP doesn't have supporters in the ground level and doesn't have the potential to win the elections.
“The BJP has nominated a candidate who was a strong supporter of the YSRC. That candidate also criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi on many occasions. Profiles of BJP candidates are questionable," a TD leader said.
However, Kakinada MLA Vanamadi Venkateswara Rao said that the TD would support the BJP respecting the seat-sharing pact.
