Former minister and senior Telugu Desam Party legislator from Visakhapatnam (north) MLA Ganta Srinivasa Rao is understood to have planned a new strategy to see that he will contest from Bheemili assembly constituency in the coming elections.
The TDP leadership has asked Ganta to move to Cheepurupalli assembly constituency to take on senior YSRCP leader and minister Botsa Satyanarayana, as the party allotted Visakhapatam (north) seat to Bharatiya Janata Party and the Bheemili seat to the Jana Sena Party as part of seat sharing agreement.
But Ganta is hell-bent on contesting from Bheemili this time. Though Naidu held two rounds of talks with him and tried to convince him that he could easily win Cheerpurupalli seat, he did not listen.
Apparently, his business connections with Botsa seem to have prevented him for fighting against the latter. So, he openly declared to the TDP high command that he won’t move to Cheepurupalli but would contest only from Bheemili.
Since Naidu is also very strong on his seat sharing with the BJP and the Jana Sena parties, Ganta held a meeting with his party followers to discuss his future course of action. He told them that Naidu is fogging him out of the party by denying him the seat.
So, Ganta is understood to have come up with a new plan – to resign from the TDP and join Jana Sena Party. Having been in Praja Rajya Party in the past, Ganta has good equations with Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan as well.
So, he is likely to request Pawan Kalyan to grant him the Bheemili ticket. Given that Pawan may not easily find a better candidate than Ganta for that constituency, he might consider fulfilling his request, according to sources.
