The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) suffered a major setback in the form of ‘early dissidence’ in Tirupati, even as the name of the candidate for the prestigious Assembly constituency remained conspicuously missing in the second list announced by the party.
With the name of Arani Srinivasulu, former Chittoor MLA who switched over from the YSRCP to the TDP recently, making the rounds as a prospective candidate for Tirupati, it has resulted in discontent among local aspirants as well as party workers.
As protracted deliberations went on at the top, local TDP aspirants had even expressed readiness to shift to the Jana Sena Party (JSP), if the seat were to be given to the TDP’s alliance partner.
The JSP, which was struggling to present a suitable candidate for the alliance, was also not averse to the idea of ‘borrowing’ a TDP candidate and welcoming him/her into the party fold. Even the JSP cadre expressed willingness to support any local candidate, in the event of party president Pawan Kalyan choosing not to contest from Tirupati and the seat being contested by the TDP or BJP.
At a meeting organised here on Thursday, district and constituency-level leaders of both the TDP and JSP are learnt to have decided to stay away from campaigning if a non-local candidate was thrust on them. They even threatened to put up a consensus candidate as an independent if the high command of both the parties continued to ignore ground-level sentiments.
BJP leaders are however tight-lipped over the controversy.
