TDP-Jana Sena Combine Slugs It Out in Chittoor Amid Internal Discord

Tirupati: With a few months left for Assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh, the  Telugu Desam Party  (TDP) chief Chandrababu Naidu is upset that his party cannot go to elections with weak candidates. 

Chittoor was once the stronghold of Telugu Desam Party but the party lost its ground to the YSRCP during the 2019 assembly elections. Chittoor, Tirupati and Srikalahasti are three key assembly constituencies in the state. Following the alliance dharma, TDP has to concede the ground in these assembly segments to the ally Jana Sena Party (JSP). As per reports, Naidu is reluctant to give the seats in these constituencies to Pawan Kalyan’s party as TDP leadership wants to field their candidates in these places. 

Speculations are rife that the former MLA Sugunamma will join Jana Sena Party. Meanwhile, Tirupati in-charge Kiran Royal and Jana Sena’s Chittoor district president Dr Pasupuleti Hariprasad have been claiming that they will be the party candidates from Chittoor assembly segments. Even though both Kiran and Pasupuleti are showing a brotherhood in public, there appears to be a cold war between them. 

Recently, Naidu addressed a Ra Kadali Ra public meeting in Tiruvuru town. The yellow media tried its best to promote the event despite the poor response from the people. In order to receive appreciation from Naidu, the local TDP leaders were seen handing out the party flags to every passerby and passed him off as a YSRCP supporter who is switching his loyalties to the TDP.  They offered the party scarves to people from T Sadumur village of Kuppam mandal and posted their pics on social media claiming they have joined the party. Without knowing the fault lines among the party’s candidates, Naidu held the programme in the town. 

Katari Hemalatha, former Mayor of Chittoor, Balaji and other leaders who managed to keep the TDP party alive in the district were hoping to get the nominations from the party leadership. However, Naidu disappointed them by announcing the name of Jagan Mohan as a party candidate, who has been actively pursuing politics of appeasement in the district for quite some time. It’s reported that now the party leadership has changed its mind and is planning to field DK Adikesavulu Naidu from the assembly segment. Meanwhile, Adikesavulu’s grand-daughter Chaitanya joined the Jana Sena Party. The TDP is also planning to field Chaitanya from Srikalahasti assembly seat on Jana Sena ticket. 

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