Penamaluru MLA Parthasarathy all set to join Telugu Desam

Vijayawada: Penamaluru MLA and YSRCP leader Kolusu Parthasarathy is likely to join the TDP very soon as he prepared the ground to shift his loyalty from the YSRCP to TDP.

Parthasarathy is one of the senior leaders of YSRCP in Krishna district. He was elected three times to the State Assembly in 2004, 2009 and 2019.

He was elected twice on behalf of the Congress party and once from YSRCP in 2019. He won from Vuyyur constituency two times in 2004 and 2009. The Vuyyur constituency was abolished by the Election Commission and new Penamaluru constituency was created.

Kolusu Parthasarathy is not happy with the present YSRCP leadership. First, he did not get berth in the State Cabinet.

Recently, the party had appointed Minister for Housing Jogi Ramesh as the in-charge of the Penamaluru Assembly constituency. This has irked Kolusu Parthasarathy and he strongly decided to quit the YSRCP and made arrangements to join the TDP. He is likely to meet TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu after the inauguration of Ram temple in Ayodhya. Naidu would visit Ayodhya on January 22 to participate in the Ram Mandir inauguration and later come back to State.

Confusion is prevailing on from which constituency Parthasarathy will contest the ensuing polls to the State Assembly. TDP leader and former MLA of Penamaluru Bode Prasad is the strong contender for Penamaluru constituency. He is aspiring for ticket from the TDP and has been doing the ground work a long time. His supporters are strongly demanding that Bode Prasad should be given ticket to contest the polls from Penamaluru constituency.

If Parthasarathy is fielded from Penamaluru from the TDP, there is less scope to get the support and co-operation from the supporters of Bode Prasad who was elected from Penamaluru in 2014 and enjoys support of party cadre in the constituency.

There are speculations that Parthasarathy may be asked to contest from Nuzvid Assembly constituency by the TDP leadership.

Senior leaders like Kolusu Parthasarathy can challenge leaders like sitting MLA Meka Pratap, who is one of the powerful and senior leaders of Nuzvid. Meka Pratap’s family is well known in Nuzvid which is the land of Zamindars.

On the other hand, Housing Minister and Pedana MLA Jogi Ramesh is also facing some problems in Penamaluru. The local YSRCP leader Padamati Suresh Babu has been doing the ground work for a long time to contest from Penamaluru.

But, the YSRCP leadership has appointed Jogi Ramesh as the in-charge of Penamaluru. If Jogi Ramesh contests from Penamaluru constituency, it is unlikely that he gets support from the local cadre and particularly the supporters and followers of Suresh Babu, who was the frontrunner till recently to contest from Penamaluru constituency.