Telugu Desam Party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu seems to have developed second thoughts over selection of the candidate for the by-elections to Nandyal assembly constituency, which has fallen vacant due to sudden death of sitting MLA Bhuma Nagi Reddy.
Initially, Naidu was firm on giving the ticket to one of the family members of Bhuma and left the choice to Nagi Reddy’s daughter Bhuma Akhila Priya, who recently joined the state cabinet. This has angered local TDP leader Shilpa Mohan Reddy, who had contested from Nandyal in 2014. He demanded that the party ticket should be given to him.
When Naidu tried to convince him that Bhuma’s family members have better choice of winning, Mohan Reddy said he would not withdraw from the contest and even threatened to join the YSR Congress party. In fact, he was expected to join the YSRC on April 21 or 22.
And his threats seemed to have worked on Naidu, as he did not want to give any chance to the YSRC to gain an upper hand.
So, he thought it would be better to convince Akhila Priya rather than Mohan Reddy. He asked Akhila not to go ahead with the selection of the party candidate, which she was supposed to do on Monday. He asked her not to reveal any name till the party high command takes a decision.
Akhila Priya said she would stay in Vijayawada for meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday and is hopeful of meeting Chief Minister Chandrababu to inform about the candidate from their family.
She, however, said that there was no suspense over the candidate's name and said that it may be there among Bhuma's fans but reassured that it will culminate in two or three days.
