Telugu Desam faces uphill task: MLC candidates selection

Vijayawada: The election to the AP Legislative Council is likely to open the proverbial can of worms in the ruling TDP.

As the Election Commission of India (ECI) announced the schedule for the biennial elections to the Legislative Councils of AP, Telangana and Bihar for teachers, graduates, MLAs and local bodies constituencies, it appears to be a daunting task for the TDP top brass to please the increasing number of aspirants.

According to information, 22 MLCs under the quotas of MLAs, the Governor, local bodies, teachers and graduates, will be retiring in March-April, lifting the curtain for hectic lobbying by hopefuls in the ruling party.

Hundreds of candidates for 22 seats would present an impossible task for any party in selection of candidates.

The party high command seems treading with caution in selecting candidates keeping in mind certain equations while trying hard to keep its commitment given to the ticket seekers for the Assembly seats in 2014 elections.

“We can’t have the cake and eat it too as no one can accommodate hundreds of aspirants in just 22 seats,” commented a senior party leader. Locked in the no-holds-barred battle with the YSRC, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu spared no efforts to take the whole rank and file on board in the 2014 elections.

In the process, he promised MLC tickets for the MLA aspirants so as to ensure a unified fight against the main rival. He is in a bind over accommodating all of them in the current MLC elections.

Naidu is understood to be feeling obligated to give representation to the Muslims so that his party will not carry the blame of distancing itself from the minorities while sailing with the BJP.

In Guntur-1, the party leadership could not entertain the request of SM Ziauddin for the Assembly ticket to accommodate Maddala Giridhar during the last elections and that Ziauddin may have to be picked for the MLC ticket now.

Naidu, who is striving hard to wean away Malas from the YSRC fold, seems to be keen on inducting a vocal leader from the community in his Cabinet which is due for expansion. The Chief Minister, sources say, is tilting towards bringing into the council SC Corporation chairman Jupudi Prabhakar from Prakasam district, expecting him to do the job of bringing Malas into party fold.

Although Peethala Sujatha from the community was handpicked for the women and child development portfolio, she is allegedly failing to meet Naidu’s expectations in influencing the Malas in favour of the favour.

In Prakasam district, a hotbed for intra-party feuds between Karanam Balaram and Gottipati Ravi groups, former minister Gade Venkata Reddy, who recently defected from the Congress and Karanam Balaram himself are reportedly trying their luck in the race for the MLC ticket.

According to sources, the TDP will field candidates for six out of seven MLC seats to be filled under MLAs quota. The list of aspirants grows bigger as the election date approaches. There are at least four-five aspirants each in Krishna, Chittoor, Guntur, East and West Godavari districts.

They include former ministers JR Pushpa Raj and D. Manikya Varaprasad in Guntur district, Varla Ramaiah, Gottipati Ramakrishna Prasad, Bachchula Arjunudu in Krishna district, Ambika Krishna and Panduvva Srinu in West Godavari district and Shilpa Mohan Reddy and NMD Farooq in Kurnool district. The party will have to earn the wrath of Bhuma group if it favours Mohan Reddy.

By: T Sudhakar