Jupudi Prabhakar Out, Prathibha In!!

Hyderabad: It was a slip between the cup and the lip for former MLC Jupudi Prabhakar Rao. Hours after his name was announced for MLC seat amid deep discontent of TDP old-timers, Jupudi was replaced by former speaker K Prathibha Bharathi for the MLC post.

After the notification for the four MLC seats in Andhra Pradesh was issued, TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu picked Jupudi for one of the seats. However, it soon dawned on the party mandarins that though Jupudi is from Prakasam district, he has registered himself as a voter from Kukatpally in Hyderabad. This made him ineligible for contesting.

Chandrababu hurriedly selected Prathibha Bharathi as the TDP candidate.  In fact, there was a storm brewing in the TDP as senior leaders like Kutuhalamma, JR Pushparaj, Balli Durgaprasad and M Padmaja were deeply upset. With Chandrababu zeroing on Prathibha Bharathi, the storm is likely to subside. However, the unexpected fallout could be that former Vijayawada Mayor Panchumarthi Anuradha, who too was given a ticket, could lose as she is from women's quota. 
The inside talk is Senior TDP leaders are angry with new entrant of party Jupudi getting ticket. So in order to calm down the new born fire, Chandrababu chooses Prathiba Bharathi over Jupudi.