Telugu Desam Party MP from Vijayawada Kesineni Srinivas alias Nani had the last laugh in getting his follower selected as the party candidate in the Vijayawada municipal corporation elections, thanks to his pressure tactics.
TDP president and chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu appears to have succumbed to the pressures of Kesineni and given the nod to the latter’s follower Shiva Sharma as the TDP candidate for 39th division, as against the originally finalised candidature of Gundarapu Poojitha.
The selection of candidate for the 39th division vertically split the party. While MLC Buddha Venkanna and former MLA Nagul Meera supported the candidature of Poojitha, Kesineni insisted that the ticket be given to Shiva Sharma, who defected from YSRC into the TDP.
This led to bitter clashes between Kesineni and Buddha Venkanna groups, as both the sides opened their party offices in the division causing confusion among the people and the party cadre.
Kesineni issued some sort of ultimatum to the party and even removed the pictures of Naidu and Lokesh from his Facebook page, indicating that he would not hesitate to leave the party if his choice was not respected.
Having no other option, Naidu spoke to both the groups separately and tried to convince them to work together. He even entrusted the task of bringing about a patch-up between the two groups to TDP state president K Atchan Naidu, who held talks with them.
Finally, it was Kesineni who emerged victorious, as Atchan announced the candidature of Shiva Sharma. The TDP chief pacified Nagul Meera and Buddha Venkanna saying the boss would take care of their interests and give some better position to Poojitha.
