It is quite natural that those leaders of any political party, who aspire for party tickets but do not get them ultimately, would revolt against their respective party leadership and create ruckus.
Quite naturally, the leadership also tries to pacify them by promising them good positions, if the party comes to power. But it all depends on how much influence they wield in the constituency.
In the event of a tough fight, any revolt by any leader will cause a lot of a damage to the party prospects in the elections.
Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu is facing exactly the same situation now.
For him, returning to power is a must, as a defeat will mean a complete decimation of the party in Andhra Pradesh. The party is facing an existential crisis now.
That is why, he is struggling to pacify the leaders who could not be accommodated in the lists of candidates contesting the assembly and Lok Sabha elections. There are more aspirants for each seat and it is very difficult to satisfy everybody.
Particularly because of forging an alliance with the Jana Sena Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party, he had limited options to contest the elections and therefore, he had to disappoint several ticket aspirants.
Naturally, these disgruntled leaders are revolting against Naidu. In Vizianagaram, district TDP president Kimidi Nagarjuna resigned from the party post on Saturday, in protest against denial of the party ticket for Cheepuripalli assembly seat.
This is despite the fact that the ticket was given to his own uncle Kimidi Kala Venkat Rao. He declared that he would not campaign for the party in the coming elections, though he did not quit from the party as such. His followers burnt the party flags and posters and raised slogans against Naidu.
In Anaparthi constituency in East Godavari district, senior TDP leader and former MLA Nallamilli Ramakrishna Reddy raised a banner of revolt against the party leadership, as the seat was allotted to the BJP, though his candidature was announced well in advance.
Reddy refused to meet Naidu, who tried to contact him over phone. He also did not relent even after senior leaders Gorantla Buchaiah Chowdary, Nimmakayala Chinna Rajappa, Sujay Krishna Ranga Rao and Ganni Krishna went to his residence and tried to pacify him.
The former MLA said he would tour the entire constituency for five days to know the public pulse and only after that he would take a call on what he should do. Till then, he declared that he won’t see the face of Naidu.
In Anantapur, too, senior TDP leaders Y Prabhakar Chowdary and Jitender Goud revolted against the party for being denied tickets in Anantapur (urban) and Guntakal assembly constituencies.
Their followers ransacked the TDP office and burnt the material, before raising slogans against Naidu and Lokesh.
It would be a tough task for the TDP president to overcome the impact of these revolts, as every seat counts for him.
