Known for his athletic skills during his school days, the 44-year-old flamboyant industrialist Potluri Vara Prasad, has entered the political marathon. With few laps to go, one has to wait and see whether he can pip his opponents at the finishing line.
Despite tripping a couple of times, resolute Vara Prasad has picked himself up admirably to continue his political marathon with an aim to enter the Parliament. Giving his unstinted support is film star and chief of Jana Sena Pawan Kalyan, who has taken the snub by Telugu Desam Party chief Nara Chandrababu Naidu rather seriously.
“The allotment of Vijayawada LS ticket to Kesineni Srinivas (Nani) did not go down well with Pawan. The snub has hurt his ego,” says a political analyst.
May file papers tomorrowAccording to reliable sources, Mr. Vara Prasad is all set to file his nomination for Vijayawada LS seat on Saturday and his crack team led by his brother Potluri Ravi Kumar, has already arrived to oversee the nomination procedure. “He was a hyper kid in school. He was always frank in his talk and action. He is quick in taking decisions and very possessive about Vijayawada,” says his senior school mate at NSM Public School at Patamata.
Another theory making rounds in the political circles is his chances of filing the nomination as the Bharatiya Janata Party candidate, in case if the alliance with TDP breaks up.
“To protect his business interests, Mr. Vara Prasad is desperately trying his best to enter the Parliament,” says a lawyer.
Mr. Vara Prasad, who made his big money in real estate and film production, entered Vijayawada hoping to contest on YSR Congress ticket. But after his fall out with YSRC chief Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy on allotment of a couple of assembly constituencies to his community leaders; the ever-smiling Mr. Vara Prasad approached the TDP chief.
Much to the surprise of many political pundits, the TDP chief kept both Kesineni Nani and PVP guessing by not taking a timely decision. Many political analysts feel that Pawan’s campaign against Telugu Desam might prove detrimental to TDP’s triumph.
Mr. Vara Prasad, who bought Hyderabad Hotshots team in the Indian Badminton League (IBL), was recently in news for buying Kochi franchise along with cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar in the Indian Soccer League, an IPL style football tourney.
