All major political parties spent anxious moments in Seemandhra on the last day of filing of nominations on Saturday with the rebels throwing their hats into the ring in open defiance of instructions of the respective parties.
Allotment of seats to new entrants and outsiders in the place of aspirants who spent long years in the parties in different capacities triggered a wave of protests in different parts of Coastal Andhra.
Telugu Desam Party President N. Chandrababu Naidu incurred wrath of sitting MLA of Proddatur (Kadapa district) Mallela Linga Reddy, who staged a protest outside the hotel in Vijayawada where Mr. Naidu stayed before proceeding for election campaigning in Guntur district.
Mr. Linga Reddy’s grievance was that he was denied ticket in spite of his hard work and loyalty to the party through its thick and thin. Police had to use force to dispel his supporters who laid siege to the hotel. Mr. Linga Reddy left the place in an angry mood after making a vain bid to persuade Mr. Naidu to nominate him for the Assembly seat.
Trouble was brewing Santhanuthalapadu constituency in Prakasam district where the TDP-BJP alliance ran into trouble after the TDP issued B form to sitting MLA B.N. Vijay Kumar triggering protests from the BJP camp. BJP candidate Dara Sambaiah maintained that he was the official nominee of the TDP-BJP combine.
In West Godavari district, YSRC and TDP faced the menace of rebels in at least six out of 15 Assembly segments. Disgruntled aspirants entered the fray as independents in Denduluru, Tadepalligudem, Chintalapudi, Kovvuru and Achanta assembly constituencies. They are: Kottu Satyanarayana, G. Rani, T. Satyanarayana (Babji) and TDP sitting MLA T.V. Rama Rao besides K. Srinivasa Rao, P.V. Rao and Gunnam Nagababu (all YSRC) filed their papers.
High dramaSupporters of TDP leader S.V.S.N. Varma tried to prevent party’s official nominee P.V. Viswam from filing nomination for the Pithapuram Assembly constituency. Similarly, the supporters of TDP’s Goli Rama Rao obstructed Nimmakayala Chinna Rajappa from filing his nomination for Peddapuram Assembly segment.
Gorantla Butchaiah Chowdary filed nominations for Rajahmundry city and rural Assembly seats. Three others of the same party (TDP) - R. Subba Raju, G. Satyanarayana and A. Padmalatha – filed nominations for Rajahmundry rural Assembly segment. BJP candidate Addepalli Sridhar also filed nomination for Rajahmundry rural segment.
TDP ticket aspirants Nimmaka Jayaraju and K. Trimurthula Raju filed nominations for Kurupam (ST) and Cheepurupalli Assembly constituencies respectively. YSRC ticket aspirant Kaniti Viswanadham filed nomination on behalf of Jai Samaikyandhra party for Palasa Assembly constituency.
V. Srinivasa Yadav of TDP filed nomination for Guntur West Assembly constituency and K. Veeraiah of TDP filed his papers for Prathipadu (SC). In Narsaraopet, TDP leader V. Srihari Rao filed his nomination papers in protest against the allotment of the seat to the BJP part of the seat-sharing agreement.
(With additional reporting from Eluru/Rajahmundry/ Kakinada/Guntur/Ongole)
