Telugu Desam Party president and former chief minister of Andhra Pradesh N Chandrababu Naidu on Sunday distributed Forms-B to all his party candidates in 144 assembly seats and 17 Lok Sabha seats, contesting the upcoming elections.
According to party sources, Naidu made changes in the candidates in five assembly constituencies out of 144, names for which were announced last month. They are: Undi, Paderu, Madugula, Venkatagiri and Madakasira.
Expectedly, Naidu dropped Manthena Venkata Rama Raju from Undi assembly constituency and gave the seat to sitting Narasapuram MP Kanumuru Raghu Ramakrishna Raju and the latter will file the nomination on Monday.
The TDP chief apparently promised a prominent position to Rama Raju after the elections and appointed him as the in-charge of Narasapuram parliamentary constituency, in place of Thota Sita Mahalakshmi who has been taken into the politburo.
At Paderu, Naidu replaced Venkata Ramesh Naidu with Giddi Eshwari, who has been sulking for quite some time and was getting ready to contest as an independent.
At Madugula, the TDP chief gave the party ticket to former minister Bandaru Satyanarayana Murthy, who had been sulking for being denied the berth from Pendurthi, which was allotted to Jana Sena as part of the alliance. Bandaru has replaced the originally selected candidate – an NRI Pyla Prasada Rao.
At Venkatagiri, Naidu dropped the originally selected candidate Kurugundla Lakshmi Priya and replaced her with her father former minister Kurugundla Ramakrishna.
And at Madakasira, Naidu picked up M S Raju, in place of originally chosen Sunil Kumar, who is said to be lagging behind in the survey.
All the candidates from all districts of the state assembled at the TDP chief's residence in Undavalli on Sunday morning, where he handed them the 'B' forms.
He asked the candidates to diligently work towards the state's reconstruction and provided guidance on election strategy. He urged all leaders to cooperate for the party's success.