Tirupati ZP Chair Caught Between Two Generations: Young Doctor Versus Veteran MLA
39-year-old Chetana Panabaka and 75-year-old Hemalatha stake their claims amid uncertainty over the TD’s choice.
Tirupati: The race for the Tirupati Zilla Parishad chairperson’s post has turned into a contest between two generations. A 39-year-old dermatologist, Dr Chetana Panabaka, and 75-year-old former Satyavedu MLA Hemalatha are in the reckoning.
Chetana, daughter of Telugu Desam’s Tirupati district president Panabaka Lakshmi, was elected unopposed as the Srikalahasti Rural ZPTC member. Her name figures for the chairperson post.
An MD graduate from Sri Ramachandra University in Chennai, Chetana has more than 12 years of experience in dermatology. She has worked in Hyderabad and Nellore. Her work in organising medical camps and health awareness programmes in villages across Tirupati and the erstwhile Nellore district has also received recognition.
Chetana has been involved in TD election campaigns for nearly two decades, assisting her parents during parliamentary and assembly elections. She campaigned in the Tirupati Lok Sabha constituency in 2019 and during the 2021 bypoll. Her mother, Panabaka Lakshmi, is a former Union minister and MP, a TTD board member and president of the TD’s Tirupati district unit.
Hemalatha, meanwhile, has a longer electoral history. She won the Satyavedu assembly seat on a TD ticket in 2009 but was not renominated in 2014 or 2019. After being denied a ticket in 2019, she was rumoured to be joining the BJP but remained neutral. Her daughter, Dr H Helen, was also considered for the TD ticket in Satyavedu before the 2024 elections, when the party eventually nominated Koneti Adimulam.
Hemalatha’s present bid comes after years of seeking another major political opportunity. She is reported to have filed nominations from four mandals, two under the TD and two under Jana Sena, amid uncertainty over which party would get the chairperson post. However, she has withdrawn the nominations filed under Jana Sena and is now contesting on the TD ticket.
Hemalatha is reportedly using her channels to press her case with the TD leadership and secure confirmation of her candidature for the ZP chairperson post. The competing claims have added to the uncertainty over the final choice.
