Lobbying continued in the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) for the two Rajya Sabha seats that the party could comfortably win with groups of leaders and legislators meeting party president N. Chandrababu Naidu.
On Tuesday over a dozen MLAs from Guntur, Prakasam, West Godavari and Khammam districts met Mr. Naidu in the Assembly lobbies and appealed to him to nominate Garikapati Mohan Rao. Mr. Rao had been taking care of the logistics for Mr. Naidu’s ‘padayatras’ and ‘bus yatras’.
Mr. Naidu was reportedly surprised to see Seemandhra MLAs coming in support of Mr. Rao who hailed from Warangal district in Telangana region. They were believed to have told him that Mr. Rao was in charge of their respective districts at one time or the other and that he was the most deserving candidate having worked in the party in difficult times.
Another leader from Karimnagar, Gandra Nalini who had unsuccessfully contested from the town in the last Assembly elections, too decided to enter the fray. Her argument was that no one from Karimnagar district, heart of the Telangana region, was considered during the last several years. Ms. Nalini said she would meet Mr. Naidu in a day or two.
From the Seemandhra side, there is hectic lobbying in favour of K. Ram Mohan Rao and S. Chandramohan Reddy. Though the name of Mr. Narayana of the Narayana Group of educational institutions has cropped up, he is said to be not very keen this time.
Meanwhile Mr. Naidu is planning to revive his district- wise ‘Praja Garjana’ rallies once the Assembly session is over. He had already addressed such rallies at Tirupati and Ongole. These rallies apart he is planning to address five public meetings.
