TDP finalises candidates for 10 Assembly seats

Anantapur: TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu had in his first list of party candidates for the ensuing polls confirmed the candidature of 10 candidates from Anantapur district.

The 10 candidates include Paritala Sriram for Raptadu Assembly constituency, Balakrishna for Hindupuram, B K Parthasaradhi from Penukonda, Gonuguntla Suryanarayana, Palle Raghunath Reddy, Prabhakar Choudhury for Anantapur, Kaluva Sreenivasulu for Rayadurgam, Ashmith Reddy for Tadipatri, Veeranna for Madakasira and Payyavula Keshav for Uravakonda.

These candidates come under both Anantapur and Hindupur Parliamentary constituencies. Candidates for Kadiri and Madakasira, Guntakal and Singanamala Assembly segments are kept pending by the party leadership. Until the other day, Paritala Sunitha was declared as the party's nominee for Raptadu constituency but a section of the family members of Paritala pressurised Sunitha to back off and field her son Sriram.

Even Sriram opined that if he did not contest this time, he would remain as a junior to the sons of JC brothers. This would land him in an awkward situation and will be counted as a junior political leader.

Sunitha urged the Chief Minister to give two party tickets to her family, one Raptadu and the other Kalyandurgam constituency. In the context of the Chief Minister approving only Sunitha for Raptadu constituency and remaining silent on request for Kalyandurgam for her son, she decided to sacrifice her seat for her son Sriram. In Puttaparthi, Naidu retained Palle Raghunatha Reddy despite opposition from some party men.