TDP clears Nani’s name for Vijayawada LS

Nani ‘rattled’ by reports that Pawan Kalyan proposed P. Varaprasad's name. Meanwhile, discontent continued in the TDP rank and file over allocation of some important seats to the BJP as part of the alliance.

The Telugu Desam Party has finally cleared the candidature of Kesineni Srinivas alias Nani from the Vijayawada Lok Sabha constituency.

The decision came after Mr. Nani called on TDP president N. Chandrababu Naidu at his residence on Monday morning. Though what transpired in the meeting was not known yet, the TDP president is learnt to have assured Mr. Nani that he was the party’s choice from the prestigious constituency.

Mr. Nani had been nurturing the constituency for some time now after receiving an assurance from the party leadership, but doubts were expressed on whether he would be allotted the ticket. Mr. Nani was reportedly unnerved by claims of a section of leaders that film star and Jana Sena Party founder Pawan Kalyan had strongly recommended the name of his close confidant Potluri Varaprasad to the TDP leadership.

A formal announcement of Mr. Nani’s candidature will be made in the next list likely to be released by the TDP leadership on Monday midnight or early Tuesday. “His (Mr. Nani’s) name has been finalised and we will officially announce it any moment from now,” a senior leader engaged in the screening exercise told

The Hindu .

Protests continue Meanwhile, discontent continued in the TDP rank and file over allocation of some important seats to the BJP as part of the alliance. A section of the TDP cadre damaged furniture in the party office in the Vijayawada West constituency in protest against allotting the seat to the BJP while their counterparts in Nellore staged protest against the decision to give Nellore Rural seat to the saffron party.

TDP activists ransacked the party’s office at Kaikalur in Krishna district for giving away the seat, a stronghold of the party, to the BJP. They disrupted a meeting of the important leaders of the constituency demanding re-nomination of Jayamangala Venkataramana who won from the seat in the previous elections.