In a big shock to Telugu Desam Party in Andhra Pradesh, former Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams chairman Chadalavada Krishnamurthy is all set to join the Jana Sena Party headed by power star Pawan Kalyan.
Krishnamurthy met Pawan Kalyan at the latter’s residence in Hyderabad on Thursday and both had discussions for a long time. Later, he agreed to join the Jana Sena Party, probably by coming Dasara festival.
Apparently, Krishnamurthy, who belongs to Balija community (an offshoot of Kapu community), has realised that he might get the ticket from Tirupati in 2019 also, if he continued in the TDP.
Last time, too, TDP president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu denied him the ticket and instead, gave it to a woman candidate Sugunamma. In lieu of the MLA seat, Naidu made him the TTD trust board chairman with all protocols of a minister.
This time, too, Naidu reportedly told him that he might not be able to give him the ticket, but would take care of his political interests.
A disappointed Krishnamurthy was planning to join the YSR Congress party, but since there was no guarantee of a Tirupati ticket even in that party, he decided to join Jana Sena.
Tirupati constituency has a sizeable number of Balija voters, who constitute one third of the total population. Since the formation of the TDP, Balijas have been winning the seat in every alternate election.
The mega family has a lot of fan following in this temple town. In 2009, Chiranjeevi himself contested and won from this segment.
Now, Pawan Kalyan may field Krishna Murthy this time, as he had won the seat in 1999.
