The Hindu : Guntur district TDP chief omitted from party's first list

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Mar 22, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Guntur district TDP chief omitted from party's first list

By Our Staff Reporter

GUNTUR, MARCH 21. Non-inclusion of the Guntur Telugu Desam Party (TDP) district president, Dhulipalla Narendra Kumar, in the first list of eight party nominees from the district announced by the Chief Minister, N. Chandrababu Naidu, in Hyderabad on Sunday, has surprised the party leaders here.

Mr. Narendra Kumar, who represented the Ponnur constituency in the dissolved Assembly was expected to be renominated in the coming Assembly elections along with eight other sitting MLAs. Renomination of the Minister for Social Welfare, J.R. Pushparaj, from Thadikonda (SC) constituency has put to rest the speculations that Ms. Revathi, wife of the Revenue Secretary, D.C. Roshaiah, would be given the party ticket.

The TDP district president was listed as one of the accused in a poll-related murder case pertaining to 1998 Lok Sabha elections. The trial of the case has been completed by the District Court and the judgment is awaited.

Those renominated from the district are: Kodela Sivaprasada Rao (Narsaraopet); Makineni Peda Rathaiah (Prathipad); Mummaneni Venkata Subbaiah (Repalle); Alapati Rajendra Prasad (Vemur); Gogineni Uma (Tenali); J.R. Pushparaj (Thadikonda-SC); S.M. Ziauddin (Guntur-I); and Prathipati Pulla Rao (Chilakaluripet).

While Dr. Sivaprasada Rao and Mr. Peda Rathaiah will be contesting for the sixth consecutive time from their respective constituencies, there were no surprises in the list as renomination of all of them was expected.

The Minister for Health, Kodela Sivaprasada Rao, when contacted, said that there would be further discussions with the Chief Minister on selection of candidates for the remaining 11 constituencies in the district and the list would be made public in a day or two.

With a Muslim minority candidate nominated from the Guntur-I constituency, there is pressure from the Kapu and Brahmin communities to allot the Guntur-II ticket to the candidate from their respective communities. The former Vijayawada Deputy Commissioner of Commercial Taxes, T.V. Rao, is a strong contender for the party ticket from the Kapu community.

The former Tenali MLA, Gogineni Uma, and the former Repalle MLA, Mummaneni Venkata Subbaiah, however, continue to face dissidence from within the party.

Venkata Subbaiah faced strong dissidence from the Repalle Municipal Chairman, Munagala Venkata Subba Rao, who was also an aspirant for the ticket. But, Dr. Sivaprasada Rao settled the issue by holding talks with both the leaders .

Annabattuni Sravan Kumar, son of the former TDP Minister, late Annabattuni Satyanarayana, charged the former Tenali MLA, Gogineni Uma, with scuttling the installation of NTR's statue in Tenali. He announced that he would go ahead with the installation of the statue by completing the process of obtaining official permission. Incidentally, he enjoys the tacit support of the former Vemur MLA, Alapati Rajendra Prasad. It is yet to be seen as to how the former Tenali MLA, Ravi Ravindarnath Choudhary, would take the renomination of Dr. Uma.

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