When it comes to winning the elections, money factor plays a major role. Before this factor, nothing else works, even if the aspirants for tickets are die-hard loyalists of their respective parties and their leaders.
This has once again been proved in Vijayawada (West) assembly constituency in the ongoing elections for Andhra Pradesh state assembly.
There are two major contenders for the seat, who have been pinning their hopes on securing the tickets from their respective parties.
One is Md Jaleel Khan, former MLA, who defected from the Congress into the YSR Congress party and finally into the TDP. Having represented this constituency twice in the past, he has a lot grip on the voters, particularly minorities, who are in good numbers.
After defecting to the TDP after 2014, he has been loyal to the party for the last 10 years. In fact, he has been one of the trusted lieutenants of TDP general secretary Nara Lokesh and he had played a major role in the success of Lokesh padayatra in Vijayawada. He was damn sure that the TDP would give the ticket to either him or his daughter.
Another loyalist-aspirant is Pothina Mahesh, who is a sort of “bhakt” for Jana Sena Party chief Pawan Kalyan. If anybody thinks of Jana Sena Party in Vijayawada, one cannot think of anybody else than Mahesh. In fact, Pawan Kalyan, too, gives Mahesh a lot of importance.
Yet, either of them – Jaleel Khan or Mahesh, has failed to get the party tickets, as the seat has been allotted to the Bharatiya Janata Party as part of the alliance. And on Wednesday, it was allotted to former Union minister Y S Chowdary, also known as Sujana Chowdary.
The reason is simple: Sujana Chowdary has the money power, which Mahesh or Jaleel Khan do not have.
Apparently, TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu is learnt to have a big role behind the screen to get the ticket to Sujana Chowdary, not only because he belongs to Kamma community and was in the TDP for quite a long time, but also because of the money factor.
Sujana Chowdary was one of the main financial pillars of the TDP and though he had defected to the BJP, he continues to be one of the major funding sources of the TDP, though Vijayawada MP Kesineni Nani was also providing finances.
After Kesineni Nani defected to the YSR Congress party and was picked up as the party candidate for Vijayawada Lok Sabha seat, Naidu was looking for a financially strong leader to finance the TDP candidates.
Though Sujana tried for Vijayawada LS seat, Naidu already promised it to Kesineni Chinni and was not interested in allotting the seat to the BJP. So, as part of bargaining, Naidu gave the Vijayawada (west) seat to Sujana, sacrificing the loyalty of Jaleel Khan. He also forced Pawan Kalyan to accept it, sacrificing the interests of Pothina Mahesh.
Apparently, Sujana has agreed to finance the campaign of Kesineni Chinni and see that the latter wins the MP seat.
The only worry is that the constituency is dominated by Muslims and so, it is doubtful whether they would vote for Sujana. That will affect the chances of Chinni as well, sources said.