Even as TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu has kick-started his party’s campaign for the ensuing general polls, the ongoing rumblings of discontent over denial of party tickets are becoming louder gradually.
A day after Congress MLAs Chintalapudi Venkatramaiah (Gajuwaka) and Uppalapati Venkata Ramanamurthy Raju alias Kannababu (Yalamanchili), who had joined the TDP recently along with former minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao, had openly expressed their displeasure over denial of party tickets to them, TDP leader in Vijayawada, Kesineni Srinivas alias Nani, on Sunday sent signals that he is not comfortable in the yellow party.
Venkataramaiah and Kannababu made it clear that they had decided to quit the TDP as the party leadership is not giving tickets to them for the general polls.
Nani, owner of a private travel service, suddenly flew to Hyderabad and met party chief N Chandrababu Naidu as soon as he was informed by the TDP office that the party leadership is considering to field him from Vijayawada East Assembly segment, instead of Vijayawada Lok Sabha seat, to which he is laying claim.
According to sources, film actor and Jana Sena Party chief Pawan Kalyan is demanding Vijayawada LS seat to his close aide and industrialist Potluri Vara Prasad. Hence, the TDP chief is learnt to be contemplating to shift Nani.
When Nani had called on Naidu, the latter reportedly advised him to choose either Vijayawada East or Penamaluru Assembly seat.
In a similar development, some followers of former MLA Chadalawada Krishna Murthy staged a sit-in in front of the residence of the TDP chief here demanding Tirupati Assembly seat for their leader.
The TDP chief tried to pacify the agitating followers of Krishna Murthy by promising them that he would look into the issue.
Meanwhile, internal dissent in the TDP over allotment of Lok Sabha and Assembly seats to the BJP in Seemandhra, as a part of seat-sharing agreement, is also coming to the fore.
For instance, a large number of the leaders and workers of the yellow party from Santanuthalapadu Assembly segment in Prakasam district, on Sunday, met TDP leader and Rajya Sabha member YS Chowdary alias Sujana Chowdary, who had looked after the seat-sharing agreement between the TDP and the BJP. They wanted Chowdary to persuade Naidu not to give the seat to the saffron party as was decided earlier.