Vijayawada: Telugu Desam leader and former MLA Silpa Mohan Reddy affirmed that he would contest the Nandyal Assembly seat in its by-elections. He told media persons that he would contest the seat to protect and save his supporters in the district.
Mohan Reddy and his brother Chakrapani Reddy met Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu at his residence in Undavalli on Wednesday night. The brothers waited for several hours to meet the Chief Minister at Velagapudi secretariat in vain. The two leaders met several ministers too as they were kept waiting from morning and made their claims clear to the TDP leadership.
Even after meeting Chandrababu Naidu, the Silpa brothers said that they were not ready to give up their claim for the Nandyal Assembly seat. “We are contesting the by-election. There is no second thought on it, come what may. We hope the Chief Minister would take a decision in our favour,” said the brothers during their brief interaction with the media while coming out of the meeting with Chandrababu Naidu.
The Silpa family had already made its stand clear to the TDP leadership about its stakes on the Nandyal seat. They went one step ahead and declared that “contesting the by-election is certain and there is no change. The only issue to be cleared is whether we would be contesting on the TDP ticket or YSR Congress ticket or as Independent.”
Though there are no positive signals from the YSR Congress leadership to this statement of the Silpa brothers, it is said that they have already sent feelers to Jaganmohan Reddy. The YSR Congress, which is also equally firm on contesting the seat, is waiting for the TDP squabbles to settle down.
The Silpa brothers are going tough particularly in the light of Minister Bhuma Akhila Priya setting the date, April 24, to announce the name of their candidate for the by-election. Surprisingly, while it is the party president Chandrababu Naidu who is expected to announce the name of the candidate for the election, the two groups are declaring their names giving no room for Chandrababu Naidu, making the battle tougher and interesting too.
