With the Telugu Desam Party high command clearing the candidature of Gali Bhanu Prakash, son of former minister Gali Muddukrishnama Naidu, for the Nagari Assembly seat, it has led to strong dissent among a section of the party cadres.
Prior to the selection of Mr. Bhanu Prakash as the candidate, the Nagari seat became most sought after among three other candidates, including senior party leader and educationist K. Ashok Raju. After Mr. Bhanu Prakash’s entry, it led to a ‘calm before storm’ like situation in the constituency.
Nagari, which represents multiple communities, has a considerable chunk of Kshatriya (Rajus) community in the constituency to the tune of nearly 30,000 votes. Mr. Ashok Kumar, who remained in the forefront of the fray since a couple of years, resorted to conducting a series of party meetings, expecting to consolidate his candidature and woo his community.
At this juncture, senior TDP cadres led by Mr. Raju had reportedly met on Saturday night at Puttur and chalked out an action plan to counter Mr. Bhanu Prakash. Going by this, Mr. Raju might enter the fray as a rebel candidate, or stay away from contest to pave way for Ms R.K. Roja (YSRCP candidate and sitting MLA) to have an easy victory. Interestingly, Ms Roja defeated Gali Muddukrishnama Naidu by a slender margin of a few hundred votes in 2014 elections.
The dissident cadres of the TDP argue that after the demise of Muddukrishnama Naidu, then MLC, his spouse Gali Saraswathamma was made to take over the vacancy. As such, it would be ‘unjust’ on the part of the TDP high command to give the MLA ticket also to the same family.
The Kshatriya community leaders observe that they expected Mr. Chandrababu Naidu to consider Mr. Ashok Raju's application, as he had served the party for the last several years. Coming to YSR Congress Party, sitting MLA Roja enjoys no dissidence from the party cadres, though some of them have distanced from her based on a plethora of reasons. During the last one year, Ms. Rojakept herself busy visiting various villages, and making donations to schools.