The TDP general secretary skipping the joint TDP–JSP meeting in Tadepalligudem on Wednesday has become the point of debate in political circles. There have been rumours among the political circles that Nara Lokesh and JSP chief Pawan Kalyan are unable to gel which has forced Lokesh from skipping the programme. It can be recalled that even a few days back while TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu and JSP chief Pawan Kalyan jointly announced the list of 99 candidates, Lokesh’s absence was felt by the TDP and JSP leaders.
On the other hand, aspiring candidates who were denied seats have turned rebels and a few senior leaders have quit the party during recent times and the defection continued even on Wednesday. The alliance between Telugu Desam Party and the Jana Sena Party has dashed off hopes of several ticket aspirants in both the parties, as they are losing their bastions as part of seat sharing.
TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu and Jana Sena Party president Pawan Kalyan are struggling to convince the disgruntled ticket aspirants as both the parties are forced to sacrifice their seats for each other.
In Rajahmundry (rural), there was a virtual clash between Jana Sena Party candidate Kandula Durgesh and sitting TDP MLA Gorantla Buchaiah Chowdary. Both Naidu and Pawan had to struggle a lot to settle the issue and finally, Durgesh agreed to move to Nidadavole constituency.
Similar issues cropped up at Razole in Konaseema district, which was allotted to Jana Sena Party as part of the seat sharing. Expressing anguish over the development, former minister and senior TDP leader Gollapalli Surya Rao resigned from the party on Wednesday.
In his letter to Naidu, Surya Rao said he had been in politics since 1981 and served as a member of late N T Rama Rao and YS Rajasekhar Reddy cabinets twice. “As an MLA from Razole from 2014 to 2019, I did not cause any trouble to you or the party and strived for the party,” he said.
He said he had served as the State vice-president of the TDP since 2019 and as Razole constituency In-charge. “I have upheld the reputation of the party by following every programme given by the state party with commitment and discipline even in the adverse situation,” he said.
Surya Rao said he was deeply saddened that his name did not figure in the list of 94 MLAs released by the party a couple of days ago. “So, I am resigning from the party as I cannot continue compromising with my self-respect,” he said.
He is expected to join the YSR Congress party soon. But it is doubtful whether Jagan will consider his name for the Razole seat, as it was already promised to sitting MLA Rapaka Varaprasad.
