Nama Nageswara Rao likely to be TDP nominee

Khammam: The Telugu Desham Party (TDP) senior leader and former MP Nama Nageshwara Rao may contest the Assembly election from the Khammam constituency, said a party source.

Local Congress and TDP leaders are taking the initiative and started discussions to field a joint candidate MP Nama Nageshwar Rao in for  the Assembly elections and face the TRS in the upcoming election in Khammam.

Even though there is no clarity on their alliance, the local leaders of the TDP are trying to strike an alliance with the Congress to defeat the TRS candidate.

In a meeting held recently in Khammam rural mandal, former MP Nama Nageswara Rao asked the cadre for their opinion over the possible alliance for the Assembly elections. Seven out of ten TD leaders wanted to sail with the Congress. A party worker said, “The TRS tried to wipe out the TDP in Telangana and took away many of our leaders. We should defeat the TRS by hook or by crook”.

According to sources, the TDP leaders are planning to hold a meeting to pass a unanimous resolution urging the party leadership to field the politburo member and former MP Nama Nageswara Rao from Khammam constituency in the Assembly election to defeat the TRS candidate.

Nama Nageswara Rao contested the Assembly election in 2004 from the Khammam constituency, but lost to the incumbent Renuka Chowdary by over 100,000 votes.

In 2009, Nageswara Rao was elected to the Lok Sabha to represent the Khammam constituency, with a majority of 124,949 votes from Khammam constituency defeating then Union Minister Renuka Chowdhary  but lost in 2014 elections to Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy.

What brings the ground level leaders of both TDP and Congress parties is the anti-establishment factor. Congress workers are angry with the TRS, and the signals coming from the TDP are welcome, observed a Congress leader.