Devineni Uma likely to be fielded in Penamaluru

Vijayawada: Suspense continues on the future of TDP senior leader and former minister Devineni Uma Maheswara Rao as the TDP leadership has not announced his candidature for any Assembly constituency in the erstwhile Krishna district. Devineni Uma earlier won from Mylavaram and Nandigama seats. He last time won from Mylavaram in 2014 Assembly elections and became minister for water resources. He was defeated in 2019 Assembly elections and his future hangs in the balance now.

The TDP has chosen Vasanta Krishna Prasad for Mylavaram Assembly constituency who also began election campaign on Monday in Mylavaram.

The TDP has reportedly conducted Interactive Voice Response Survey (IVRS) in Penamaluru Assembly constituency to choose candidate. Now, Devineni Uma has a choice of Penamaluru constituency, which has sizeable Kamma caste voters.

Speculation is rife that Devineni Uma may be fielded from Penamaluru. His name was not in the first list of candidates announced by the TDP two days ago. Since then, the supporters and followers of Uma are eagerly waiting for the announcement of the name for Penamaluru constituency. The TDP announced the first list with 94 names.

The name of Devineni Uma was missing in the list and he met the TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu on Sunday at the residence of the latter at Tadepalli. Uma earlier suspected that the TDP leadership may choose Vasanta Krishna Prasad for Mylavaram seat. Uma is a staunch supporter of Chandrababu Naidu for a long time and strong critic of Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy and the YSRCP government.

On the other hand, Penamaluru former MLA Bode Prasad is strongly insisting that he should contest the polls from Penamaluru. He won from Penamaluru in 2014 and a strong following in the constituency. He is hopeful of getting ticket to contest from Penamaluru. But the final decision will be taken by party chief Chandrababu Naidu.