TDP goes into poll mode much ahead of elections

Tirupati: Ahead of next Assembly elections scheduled to be held in early 2024, TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu has been finalising the party candidates one after another giving them green signal to plunge into campaign mode. Recently, he cleared the candidature of Pulivarthi Venkata Mani Prasad aka Nani for Chandragiri Assembly constituency in the present Tirupati district.

Nani met the party chief in Mangalagiri last week for more than an hour. In the meeting, he was given the green signal to contest the next elections from Chandragiri constituency itself putting all speculation about the change of constituency for him at rest. It may be recalled here that he contested the 2019 elections from the same seat but was defeated by YSRCP candidate Chevireddy Bhaskar Reddy.

There was speculation doing rounds in the erstwhile Chittoor district that Nani was thinking of contesting from Chittoor constituency in the next elections and the party may field a fresher from Chandragiri.

Now, the clarity on Chandragiri leaves the Chittoor constituency open for a new candidate.

The party fielded former MLA A S Manohar from Chittoor in 2019 who lost the election to YSRCP's Aarani Srinivasulu. Since then, Manohar was hardly seen in any activities of TDP nor any other party. Names of former MLA Satyaprabha and former MP D K Adikesavulu's son DK Srinivas have been doing rounds from Chittoor seat for 2024 elections though there is no confirmation yet.

With this, out of 14 seats in the erstwhile Chittoor district, almost eight candidates have been finalised so far either directly or indirectly.

While it was certain that Naidu himself will contest from Kuppam for eighth time in a row since 1989, he had given nod for Challa Babu to try his luck in Punganur, Nallari Kishore Kumar Reddy from Piler, N Amaranatha Reddy from Palamaner, B Sudheer Reddy from Srikalahasti, Pulivarthi Nani from Chandragiri, Gali Bhanu Prakash from Nagari and G Shankar Yadav from Thamballapalle.

However, one or two changes in these names may take place at the last minute depending on the poll alliances and other factors. Candidates for the remaining seven constituencies — Tirupati, Chittoor, Madanapalle, Puthalapattu, GD Nellore and Satyavedu — are pending. Out of these, Chittoor and GD Nellore are expected to get fresh faces while in Satyavedu both former MLA Hemalatha and 2019 candidate JD Rajasekhar are in race for the ticket.

Former MLA Dommalapati Ramesh may be fielded from Madanapalle and another former MLA M Sugunamma seems certain from Tirupati. There was no clarity yet on Puthalapattu constituency though former MLA Lalitha Kumari's name is doing rounds.

However, there is speculation that if TDP and Jana Sena Party join hands, Pawan Kalyan may contest from Tirupati seat which has a strong vote bank belonging to his community.

It may be recalled that his brother and film star Chiranjeevi also emerged victorious from Tirupati as Praja Rajyam candidate in 2009.