Panabaka among 5 TDP LS nominees cleared

After releasing the list of TDP candidates for majority of Assembly seats, Naidu started selecting the Lok Sabha nominees. 
AP Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu (Photo | PTI)
AP Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu (Photo | PTI)

VIJAYAWADA: Departing from his practice of announcing the names of TDP candidates from the party office late night, Telugu Desam chief N Chandrababu Naidu on Monday introduced the party nominees for Lok Sabha polls at the election preparatory meetings.

After releasing the list of TDP candidates for the majority of Assembly seats, Naidu started selecting the Lok Sabha nominees. 

Addressing the ‘Election Sannahaka’ meetings in four districts, the TDP chief announced the names of party candidates for Tirupati, Nellore, Ongole, Machilipatnam and Vijayawada parliamentary constituencies.

The first name announced was that of former Union minister Panabaka Lakshmi, who joined the TDP recently. She was fielded from Tirupati Lok Sabha segment. 

The TDP for long was searching for a suitable candidate for Tirupati, but could not find one from its own flock. 

With the entry of Panabaka into the TDP,  the party leadership decided to field her from Tirupati Lok Sabha seat, which is reserved for SCs.

Naidu announced the name of Beeda Mastan Rao for Nellore parliamentary seat. The party initially wanted to field Adala Prabhakar Reddy, who unsuccessfully contested in 2014 Lok Sabha elections, again. 

But Adala wanted to contest Assembly elections and was given Nellore Rural seat. However, he joined YSR Congress, which fielded him from Nellore Lok Sabha seat.

In Ongole, the Chief Minister introduced his Cabinet colleague Sidda Raghava Rao as the TDP candidate for the Lok Sabha seat. Sidda reluctantly agreed to contest the Lok Sabha elections from Ongole as per the directive of the TDP leadership. 

In Vijayawada, Naidu announced the names of sitting MPs Konakalla Narayana Rao and Kesineni Srinivas alias Nani for Machilipatnam and Vijayawada Lok Sabha seats.

The TDP leadership which cleared the names of candidates for several Lok Sabha seats, is still undecided on contestants for Visakhapatnam, Anakapalli, Rajamahendravaram, Amalapuram and Narsapur segments.

In a related development, Sri Bharat, son-in-law of actor and Hindupur MLA Nandamuri Balakrishna and grandson of GITAM Educational Institutions founder MVVS Murthy, has intensified his efforts to get TDP ticket for Visakhapatnam Lok Sabha seat. The TDP is considering Adari Anand for Anakapalli, despite the name of Konathala Ramakrishna doing rounds as the latter called on the Chief Minister on Monday.

Though the TDP almost finalised the candidature of Mathur Harish for Amalapuram Lok Sabha seat, the recent entry of GVG Harsha Kumar into the party, has raised speculation that the latter may be given the party ticket considering his seniority. 

There is a possibility of some changes in the list of LS candidates cleared by the TDP leadership as followers of T Sravan Kumar who was selected for Bapatla seat, are insisting that he be renominated from Tadikonda Assembly constituency. The TDP is also mulling to field Alapati Rajendra Prasad or Bhashyam Ramakrishna from Narasaraopet parliamentary constituency instead of Rayapati Sambasiva Rao, sources said.

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