With Modugula Venugopal Reddy quitting the Telugu Desam Party, all eyes are on the crucial Guntur West Assembly segment now. There are many aspirants for the ticket including Mannava Mohan Krishna and Kovelamudi Ravindra Babu alias Nani. Some of them have even begun a door-to-door campaign.
The party president and Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu is yet to finalise a candidate from this prestigious segment and going by the caste equations in the politically-sensitive district, the choice may well go down to the wire.
Since all the sitting MLAs in the 17 assembly segments are being retained with the exception of Mr. Reddy and Mr. Kishore Babu, who had left the party, the high command has to do some fine balance.
Gade among probables
In the 2014 elections, the party fielded Mr. Venugopala Reddy from Guntur West and Annam Satish Prabhakar (Kapu) from Bapatla. While Mr. Reddy had a landslide victory, Mr. Satish lost by 5,000 votes and was quickly compensated with a nomination as MLC. With the chances of Mr. Satish getting the ticket becoming slimmer, the party is now mulling over fielding former Minister and senior leader Gade Venkata Reddy.
Party circles say that Mr. Venkata Reddy is being preferred by the CM, while the latter is batting for his son Madhusudana Reddy. In case the party fields a Reddy candidate from Bapatla, it may go with a candidate from Kapu community in Guntur West Assembly segment and that leaves the door open for many aspirants in the party.
Survey on
Among the hopefuls, Chandu Sambasiva Rao, member of the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA), Sannakayala Uma Shankar, IVF specialist and son of former Minister S. Aruna, seem to be on top of the list. The party has begun a survey to select the ideal candidate, but the choice won’t be easy.