Overconfidence led to TDP poll debacle

Nellore: Internal rows, lack of coordination, non-cooperation, wrong selection of candidates, and finally overconfidence left the TDP in the district leading to desolation from the political life for a term. The party which bagged three Assembly seats during last elections is now with empty hands.

Even though, the senior leaders warned on the ground reality of internal shortcomings, there has been no action for rectifying them and to drive the cadre towards hard work and flawless electioneering. Although candidate of Nellore City P Narayana tried to put his entire efforts to win the constituency there was no support from the local party leaders where he had to fight independently till the end.

Finally, he lost the polls with a narrow margin of 1,988 votes. At one point of time, sitting MLA Dr Anil felt tensed on the declining majority during the last rounds. Finally, he heaved a sigh of relief with a slight margin.

Though Narayana is tight-lipped over non-cooperation of the local leaders, TD high command has to realise what had happened in a disciplined party which finally resulted in an unbearable result of zero seats.

Sitting MLA of Sullurpet from the YSRCP Kiliveti Sanjeevaiah got a record majority of 61,292 votes this time where the candidate from the TDP found to be beleaguered by the local leaders, who failed to support him in the elections. In fact, there were internal rivalries where local senior leaders did not support Dr Parasa Ratnam.

The second highest majority is from Gudur where Tirupati sitting MP Dr Varaprasad whom the party shifted to the Assembly segment. He achieved a majority of 45,458 votes even though he is not popular in the constituency. Sitting MLA Pasam Sunil Kumar got elected from YSRCP in 2014 and shifted loyalties to TDP recently. He was given an opportunity to contest from the place where the party witnessed a bitter result.

In Venkatagiri, YSRCP had picked former Minister Anam Ramanarayana Reddy as the candidate, who won with a majority of 38,720 votes. There were indications from the TDP cadre that the candidate and two-time sitting MLA Kurugondla Ramakrishna was facing difficult situation due to lack of coordination and personal attitude. The warnings were ignored.

In Kavali too, TDP introduced former legislator K Vishnuvardhan Reddy as a candidate just before elections, who was having no direct contacts with the cadre in the entire constituency. Followers of MP candidate Beeda Mastan Rao also were non-cooperative where the YSRCP candidate Ramireddy Pratapkumar Reddy won with a majority of 14,117 votes for the second time. Rumours were doing rounds during elections that local TDP activists asked the voters to support YSRCP candidate.

Similar was the situation in Kovur Assembly segment where sitting MLA Polamreddy Srinivasulu Reddy was facing tough situation with low performance and internal issues. Local senior leader Pellakuru Srinivasulu Reddy also wished to contest from there. The tussle finally benefited the YSR Congress party where party senior leader and former Minister Nallapureddy Prasanna Kumar Reddy won with 39,891 votes.

In Nellore rural, former Minister Adala Prabhakar Reddy quit the TDP and joined the YSRCP and TDP finally asked Mayor Aziz to be in the fray where he failed to manage the situation with lack of experience. In Atmakur, Chief of KIMS Bollineni Krishnaiah was in the fray who failed to face the strong opposition in the constituency.

In Sarvepalli, Somireddy Chandramohan Reddy failed to tackle the situation though he was Minister where opposition candidate Kakani Govardhan Reddy gave strong fight, who won with a majority of 13,973 votes.

Udayagiri MLA Bollineni Venkata Rama Rao faced internal dissidence with Kavya Krishan Reddy, who aspired ticket and he later joined the opposition. Finally, YSRCP candidate won with majority of 36,528 votes. Senior Congress leader and former union minister Panabaka Lakshmi abruptly joined the TDP and the party high-command offered Tirupati LS seat where former TDP leader Balli Durga Prasad Rao, who contested on behalf of the YSRCP bagged with a thumping majority of 2,28,376 votes over his rival. Earlier, Dr Varaprasad gained only 37,425 votes in 2014.

Adala Prabhakar Reddy who shifted his loyalties at the crucial moment though the TDP declared him as a candidate for Nellore Rural segment finally won the seat with a majority of 1,48,571 votes where TDP candidate Beeda Mastan Rao trailed due to deficiencies of MLA candidates. Still, he gave tough fight gaining 5, 35,259 votes when Prabhakar Reddy fetched with 6, 83,830 votes. The majority of former MP M Rajamohan Reddy was only 13,478 in 2014 polls.