In a blow to the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), its Paderu in-charge and former MLA Giddi Eswari on Thursday announced that she would be contesting the coming Assembly elections as an independent candidate, days after the party announced the candidature of Killu Venkata Ramesh Naidu from the constituency.
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Ms. Eswari announced her decision at a meeting with her supporters in Kummariputtu on Wednesday evening. The former MLA, who won the 2014 elections from Paderu constituency on a YSRCP ticket before switching over to the TDP in 2017, had unsuccessfully contested the 2019 elections, losing to the YSRCP’s K. Bhagya Lakshmi. She was hopeful of getting a TDP ticket for the second time, and was reportedly upset over the party’s decision to field Mr. Ramesh Naidu instead.
“I had worked extremely hard for the TDP’s growth in Paderu Assembly constituency in the last five years. However, the party has humiliated me and my supporters by not allotting me the ticket. I thank all those who stood by me and want to request them to continue their hard work for another month, and help me win the coming election as an independent candidate,” Ms. Eswari said at the meeting.
The TDP cadre in the region were reportedly hopeful of Ms. Eswari bagging the nomination from Paderu, and were reportedly taken aback by the party’s decision to field Mr. Ramesh Naidu (46) instead. A former government school teacher, Mr. Ramesh Naidu’s mother K. Venkata Ratnam had worked as MPP, MPTC and sarpanch in Paderu in the past.
The sharing of seats in the Araku Valley between the TDP, BJP and JSP has resulted in some chagrin for the TDP cadre after the BJP announced that it would field its leader Pangi Rajababu from Araku Valley (ST) constituency, much to the disappointment of TDP leader Siyyari Donnu Dora, who was earlier named by N. Chandrababu Naidu as the party’s candidate from the constituency.