VIJAYAWADA: While Telugu Desam Party (TDP) supremo N Chandrababu Naidu is going ahead with finalising candidates for the ensuing elections, internal bickerings in the party are coming to the fore in some Assembly constituencies.
Anticipating that Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy may go for early polls, Naidu is engaged in a series of meetings with TDP leaders of various segments and giving clarity on the candidature of ticket aspirants. However, the exercise seems to be not going well in several constituencies as the TDP supremo is learnt to have found it difficult to pacify the rival groups before coming to a final decision.
Soon after the announcement of former minister Kanna Lakshminarayana as the charge of Sattenapalli, Kodela Sivaram, son of former Assembly Speaker Kodela Siva Prasada Rao, revolted against the TDP leadership. A similar situation has prevailed in some more constituencies.
In Chilakaluripet, the race for the TDP ticket has been going on between former minister Prathipati Pulla Rao and Bhashyam Praveen for quite some time. With indications coming out that Praveen may be the final choice of Naidu, Pulla Rao has expressed his dissatisfaction openly against the party leadership.
Meanwhile, the TDP disciplinary committee has issued a show-cause notice to Praveen for organising party activities in Chilakaluripet defying the directions of the leadership. He has been directed to appear before the committee on July 10 to give an explanation.
With former ministers Kondru Murali Mohan and Kavali Pratibha Bharathi aspiring for the TDP ticket in Rajam of Vizianagaram district, the leadership is taking time to make a final announcement on the party candidate.
Similarly, group wars seem to be continuing in Penukonda and Madakasira of Anantapur district, Gopalapuram in West Godavari, Gudivada in Krishna and some more segments. However, Naidu has laid emphasis on resolving all the issues by speaking to the leaders, said party sources.
“After finalising the candidates in several constituencies, where there is unity among the party leaders, Naidu has now shifted focus on giving clarity on the candidates for those segments witnessing internal fight among leaders. Recently, the TDP supremo organised a series of meetings with the leaders of reserved constituencies and gave the green signal for his nominees. “Similar exercise is likely to be continued in the days to come and the issue of tickets will be settled in most of the constituencies at the earliest,” a senior TDP leader told TNIE.
"However, in case of reaching an electoral alliance with other political parties, we have to revise the exercise so as to allot some seats to the allies," another TDP leader opined.