VIJAYAWADA: The announcement of candidates has long been made and some of them along with the TDP’s N Chandrababu Naidu and YSRC’s YS Jagan Mohan Reddy have begun making whirlwind tours of the State, but the dissidence among leaders who did not get a party ticket, refuses to die. Party leaders are trying to pacify them so as to prevent them from taking a stand against the candidates that have been chosen, but to no avail.
On Wednesday, mild tension prevailed for a while at the residence of CM N Chandrababu Naidu in Undavalli. Followers of Chalama Reddy, who aspired to contest from Macherla Assembly constituency, created a ruckus, demanding that the party give ticket to their leader instead of Anji Reddy, whose name was cleared by the party.
The dissidents even broke through the first police cordon and forced their way towards the CM’s residence. However, they were stopped by the police soon after. Even as Naidu had convened a meeting with Anji Reddy and Chalama Reddy in the presence of Narasaraopet MP candidate Rayapati Sambasiva Rao, asking all of them to work together for the victory of the party candidate, Chalama Reddy is learnt to have been bothered by having to give up the ticket.
In Kadapa too, veteran leader N Varadarajulu Reddy, who aspired for the TDP ticket to contest from Proddatur constituency in Kadapa district, expressed his disappointment over the party leadership allocating it to M Linga Reddy. After boycotting Naidu’s meeting in Kadapa on Tuesday, Varadarajulu Reddy on Wednesday made it clear that he will not support the candidature of Linga Reddy.
Similarly, senior leader Veera Siva Reddy and former minister Ahmedullah, who aspired for Kamalapur an
d Kadapa seats respectively, were disappointed with the denial of the tickets to them and they too, did not relent, even as the party’s district president Srinivasulu and others held parleys with them.
In Puthalapattu of Chittoor district, former MLA Lalitha Kumari is preparing to contest as an independent with the TDP after T Poornam was given the ticket. Similarly, TDP leader Vijaya Jyothi from Badvel of Kadapa district also announced to contest as an independent with the party denying her the ticket. The dissidence also hit the YSRC with its sitting MLA from Nandikotkur, Ijaiah, quitting the party over denial of ticket to him; he joined the TDP. Ijaiah was loyal to the party and did not quit it even as several others switched loyalties after 2014. What came as a shock to the MLA was that even though he was very vocal in taking on the CM during his official programmes in Nandikotkur, his services were not recognised by the party.
The BJP, whose presence is nominal in the State and more particularly in North Andhra, too, witnesses some dissidence. Alleging that the party leadership allocated ticket to ‘unknown persons’, ignoring the services of the leaders who were a part of the party for about a decade. Raising slogans against the party State chief Kanna Lakshminarayana, cadres of the BJP gheraoed the party election management convenor and MLC Somu Veerraju at the district BJP office in Srikakulam and demanded justice to those striving for the development of the party.
With nominal presence in Andhra Pradesh, BJP also faces dissidence. Alleging that the party leadership allocated ticket to ‘unknown persons’, ignoring the services of the leaders who were a part of the party for about a decade, leaders of the saffron party staged a protest with a demand that the candidates as well as the district BJP president be changed. Raising slogans against the party State chief Kanna Lakshminarayana, cadres of the BJP gheraoed the party election management convenor and MLC Somu Veerraju at the district BJP office