Palair Assembly constituency is going to witness an epic battle of sorts as titans from two parties, ruling TRS and Telugu Desam party, are entering the fray. Telangana Rashtra Samiti announced state minister Tummala Nageswar Rao as its candidate. Even though he is an MLC, chief minister KTR chose to field Tummala as the candidate giving primacy the demography of the regions, where Kammas are a force. The byelection is necessitated by the death Congress MLA Ramreddy Venkatareddy in March this year.
A TDP former minister , Tummala quit the yellow party following his defeat in 2014 election. He is said to have left the TDP protesting the promotion of Nama Nageswar Rao, former Lok Sabha member. Both Nageswar Raos were arch rivals and they rivalry led to the faction fight in the TDP. In September 2014, Tummala joined TRS and later he was made MLC and then inducted into cabinet. Now, TRS is under the impression that Tummala alone could sweep the polls. TDP, for the first time is confident of giving tough fight to TRS in Telangana by fielding Nama Nageswa Rao, of Madhucon group of Industries. Both influence wise and money wise , Nama can take on the mighty TRS and his political rival in the state. As the party faced series of defeats, winning the seat will help party to prove that the party was not finished despite the defection of 12 MLAs to TRS.
According to Telangana TDP president L Ramana the constituency meeting of party is scheduled today and a decision is likely emerge on the candidacy of Nama Nageswarao Rao. ” We are confident of defeating the TRS in Palair. Though the view of the party in general is in favor of Nama Nageswar Rao, the party wants to take the view of the workers in the district into consideration before announcing his candidature. Nama is also attending today’s meeting,” Ramana told telugu360.com.
He said the outcome of the meeting would be conveyed to the party high command, which in turn takes a final view.
” Party national president Chandrababu Naidu is on tour in Rayalaseema and is expected get back tonight. A decision is likely on Friday or Saturday,” Ramana said. Polling for the byelection is scheduled on May 16 and votes will be counted on May 19.
