Finalising candidates for Guntakal, Singanamala and Kalyanadurg seats in Anantapur district (14 Assembly constituencies) has turned a tough job for the TDP high command.
The Rayadurg constituency represented by I&PR Minister Kalava Srinivasulu is also giving headache to the party with its former MLC Mettu Govind Reddy quitting on Tuesday for not getting sufficient importance and opposing the candidature of the sitting MLA.
While several Ministers and party functionaries have supported the candidature of Mr. Srinivasulu which looks certain, former MLC Deepak Reddy, suspended from the party following his arrest in a land forgery case in Hyderabad in June 2017, is also making all out efforts for the seat.
Mr. Deepak Reddy with mining interests in Karnataka has good following in the constituency. Being the son-in-law of Tadipatri MLA J.C. Prabhakar Reddy bolsters his claim.
At Guntakal TDP former MLA Madusudhan Gupta was stopped from entering the party office premises by the brother of sitting MLA R. Jithendra Goud following a rumour that Mr. Gupta was given the ticket. The picture is not clear.
Kadiri sitting MLA Attar Chand Basha, who joined the TDP after winning on the YSRC Party ticket in 2014, was confident of getting renominated but Kandikunta Venkata Prasad has been cleared by Mr. Chandrababu Naidu, according to party sources.
At Singanamala, Bandaru Sravani hopes she would be get the ticket as her father Bandaru Ravi Kumar had got the B Form in 2014 but could not file nomination as his VRS application with his insurance company was not finalised by then. Sitting MLA Yamini Bala expects renomination though her mother Shamantakamani has been nominated as MLC. The Bandaru family, however, hopes two tickets would not be given to one family.
Many aspirants
Many aspirants are vying for the Kalyandurg Assembly constituency too, though sitting MLA Hanumantharaya Chowdary is confident of getting the B Form. One of the aspirants is Paritala Sriram, son of SERP Minister Paritala Sunithamma and he had met Mr. Srinivasulu to intercede on his behalf. Another strong candidate is Alimineni Surendra Babu, owner of S.R. Constructions and had opted out in 2014 following a request by Mr. Naidu to leave it in favour of sitting Anantapur MLA V. Prabhakar Chowdary.