The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) was on Friday plunged into a deep crisis with its nominee for the Nellore Lok Sabha seat, Vanteru Venugopala Reddy, suddenly disappearing from the campaign scene. Suspecting foul play, the party brass rushed state youth wing leader Bida Ravichandra Yadav to submit his papers on Friday, the last day for filing nominations.
Curiously, Vanteru, who had filed his papers on Wednesday, went incommunicado the very next day. However, according to sources, Vanteru is mulling withdrawal from the poll fray to protest against the allegedly dictatorial ways of district party chief and former minister Somireddy Chandramohan Reddy.
Vanteru reportedly spoke to party supremo Chandrababu Naidu over the telephone and expressed a desire to retire from the contest. Vanteru is believed to have left Nellore after informing local leaders that he was going to meet Naidu in Hyderabad.
With Naidu having left for campaign duty at Macherla in Guntur district, Vanteru reportedly met senior leaders at the party office. Subsequently, he is believed to have sought a meeting with Naidu at Macherla.
Reacting to the development, Naidu first rushed Ravichandra to file his papers and then reviewed with district leaders the party’s position in Nellore.
Sources said that Naidu has taken Chandramohan Reddy to task for having failed to handle the crisis properly. Indeed, Vanteru had expressed his inability to contest citing financial problems even before Naidu had finalized his candidature.
He, however, agreed to contest only after Naidu offered the party’s support. Vanteru is a financially sound businessman with investments in pharma companies. Sources said he cited financial problems only to escape having to contest the election as he knows there is little chance of him winning the seat.
Sources said that Vanteru set three conditions to the party leadership if he is to continue as the TDP candidate. He sought the Kavali segment for himself for the 2014 elections and also insisted that he be designated to channel the fund distribution for the current elections instead of Chandramohan Reddy.
Vanteru, who won from Kavali in the 1999 Assembly elections, was defeated by Magunta Parvathamma in 2004. Subsequently, TDP fielded Bida Mastan Rao, a BC leader, from Kavali and nominated Vanteru as its LS candidate for the 2009 elections. But while Mastan Rao won the Kavali seat, Vanteru lost his LS battle.
“Since then, he has been dreaming of making a comeback in his hometown and is just waiting for an opportunity,” insiders said. Vanteru took the LS byelections as a chance to push the party leadership into a corner and disappeared from the scene after filing his papers.
Meanwhile, Chandramohan Reddy said that Vanteru had gone to Hyderabad on “personal work” and would rejoin the campaign trail in a day or two. He said that Ravichandra had filed his papers as a dummy candidate only who would eventually withdraw from the race.
—————–Agencies