Former minister and senior Telugu Desam Party leader from in Visakhapatnam district Bandaru Satyanarayana Murthy has decided to keep away from the party activities, if not to quit the party immediately, even as party president N Chandrababu Naidu is trying hard to pacify rebels and disgruntled leaders in other constituencies.
Bandaru, who was expecting the TDP ticket from Pendurthi constituency, met Naidu who came to Visakhapatnam on Sunday.
He put forth his demand for the party ticket from Pendurthi, which was allotted to Jana Sena Party as part of alliance.
Former MLA Panchakarla Ramesh Babu is contesting on Jana Sena ticket from Pendurthi this time. However, Bandaru refused to cooperate with him and is staying away from the campaign.
During his visit to Vizag, Naidu gave him a patient hearing and explained to him his compulsions on giving the ticket to Jana Sena.
He asked whether Bandaru would be interested in moving to Madugula, but the latter refused.
When Naidu asked Bandaru to work for the alliance, the latter flatly refused. This angered Naidu who pulled him up for defying the party orders and Bandaru came out with in a huff. He may take a decision on his plans in a day or two.
On the other hand, Naidu managed to pacify the rebels in other constituencies by giving them special positions in the party and entrusting key responsibilities to them, including those who had joined the party recently.
Accordingly, Mallela Rajesh Naidu from Chilakaluripet, who defected from the YSRCP to the TDP recently, was appointed as party observer in Guntur (West) to ensure defeat of YSRCP candidate Vidadala Rajini.
Similarly, Y Prabhakar Chowdary, who revolted against the party for being denied Anantapur (urban) ticket, was appointed as TDP state general secretary and also given the responsibility of Zone-5.
Former MP Nimmala Kishtappa, who was expecting the TDP ticket from Puttaparthi assembly seat was appointed as TDP in-charge of Anantapur Lok Sabha constituency, MLC B T Naidu for Kurnool and Erasu Pratap Reddy for Nandyal LS seats.
Former minister G Tippe Swamy was made in-charge of Hindupur Lok Sabha seat, former Kurnool TDP president Somisetty Venkateshwarlu for Aluru and Pathikonda assembly seats, former YSRCP MP Dr Sanjeev Kumar for Kodumuru and Yemmiganur; K V Subba Reddy for Allagadda; Seethamraju Sudhakar (who also defected from YSRCP recently) to Visakhapatnam (north), Divi Sivaram to Denduluru and others.
Former minister Dadi Veerabhadra Rao has been named as party in-charge of Election Commission affairs and press briefings in the TDP central office. His son Dadi Ratnakar was appointed as TDP state executive secretary.