During the recent general elections, several leaders of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) voluntarily stayed away from seeking party tickets and extended support to the official candidates.
In Anantapur and Sri Sathya Sai districts, consisting of 14 Assembly and two Lok Sabha constituencies, the TDP changed candidates in more than half of these seats in the elections. Several senior leaders withdrew from fray and extended their support to the party. The strategic efforts of the TDP in alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Jana Sena Party led to the NDAโs resounding victory in the twin districts, decimating the YSR Congress Party. In contrast, except for Nandamuri Balakrishna from Hindupur and Payyavula Keshav from Uravakonda, the TDP had suffered a crushing defeat in the 2019 elections.
The impact of the leadersโ voluntary withdrawal from the electoral fray remains a subject of speculation about the nominated posts, following the recent announcement of Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu that the drive would commence shortly.
For instance, former Anantapur MLA Prabhakar Choudhary, a senior TDP leader, was one among the dropouts in the election race. Instead, the ticket was given to Mr. Venkata Prasad, who emerged victorious. Similarly, the absence of a ticket for Paritala Sriram, TDP in-charge of the Dharmavaram constituency in Sri Sathya Sai district, and for J.C. Pawan Kumar Reddy, who unsuccessfully contested as the TDP candidate in 2019 from Anantapur Lok Sabha constituency, stimulated deliberation about the positions they might be offered.
The discourse extends to other aspirants who were not given the party tickets in the recent election. The list includes former MLA Jitender Goud in Guntakal, family of Unnam Hanumantaraya Chowdary in Kalyanadurgam, and Palle Raghunatha Reddy in Puttaparthi and K. Eeranna in Madakasira, who faced disqualification as the MLA in 2018 allegedly due to hiding facts about criminal cases.
There is an internal debate in the TDP circles of the combined Anantapur district about the possibility of these leaders getting the nominated positions. The recent visit of the Chief Minister to Sri Sathya Sai district to launch the NTR Bharosa pensions and interaction with the party cadres came as a fillip to those seeking nominated posts.
Meanwhile, several senior cadres of the party are seeking nominated posts. Similarly, the second-rung leaders are also actively lobbying with the local MLAs for nominated posts.
