It appears Telugu Desam Party general secretary Nara Lokesh is calling the shots in the distribution of party tickets for the upcoming assembly and Lok Sabha elections in Andhra Pradesh.
According to party sources, Lokesh, who did not interfere in the decision of his father and party president N Chandrababu Naidu to forge an alliance with the Jana Sena Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party, has been given the major say in the distribution of the TDP tickets.
If not all, in majority of the tickets’ distribution, it is Lokesh who has the last word. Of course, he is consulting his father and other party leaders, apart from going by the survey reports of Robbin Sharma, heading the strategy team, Showtime Consulting.
But because of Lokesh’s undue interference, several seniors, who have been loyal to the party for several years, have been denied tickets. Naturally, they are a disgruntled a lot. Some of them have taken instant decision of quitting the party and others are waiting for the right opportunity to call it quits.
For example, senior TDP leader and former MLA Eeli Venkata Madhusudhana Rao alias Eeli Nani of Tadepalligudem in West Godavari district joined the YSRCP in the presence of chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy at the Tadepalli camp office on Thursday.
Nani, son of former minister Eeli Varalaxmi, was first elected to the state assembly on Praja Rajyam ticket, but lost the election as TDP candidate in 2019.
Similarly, former minister K S Jawahar, who has been vociferous in attacking the Jagan Mohan Reddy government and has been loyal to the party for several years, is also said to be planning to quit the party.
Jawahar refused to take calls from Naidu and is holding a meeting of his followers and party workers to decide his future course of action.
Sources said it was Lokesh who was responsible for the denial of party ticket to Bode Prasad in Penamaluru. The party wants to give the ticket to Devineni Uma Maheswar Rao, whose Mylavaram seat is being given to defector Vasantha Krishna Prasad.
Bode Prasad has openly expressed his dissatisfaction with the party and said the news was extremely disheartening.
"I was eagerly awaiting the ticket, and to hear that I won't be getting it felt like a stab in the heart," he remarked.
Similarly, another senior leader Gandi Babji, who expected Visakhapatnam (south) ticket and Pasarla Prasad from Bheemili also resigned from the TDP. They are looking up to the YSRC.
Several other seniors like Bandaru Satyanarayana Murthy and Nageshwara Rao are also facing the same situation.
