Senior YSR Congress party leader and Andhra Pradesh minister for panchayat raj Peddireddy Ramachandra Reddy has once again proved that there is nobody who can challenge his might in his native assembly constituency Punganur in Chittoor district.
There were allegations by the Telugu Desam Party leaders during the nomination process to municipal elections in Punganur in March 2020 that the YSRC leaders had indulged in violence and threatening to prevent the TDP candidates from filing their nominations.
TDP president and former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu lodged a complaint with state election commissioner Nimmgadda Ramesh Kumar that Peddireddy had captured several wards unanimously by using force and coercion against the TDP candidates.
Based on his complaint, Nimmagadda gave a chance to the TDP candidates to file nominations afresh in three wards – 9, 14 and 28 and asked them to file the papers before 3 pm on Tuesday.
However, surprisingly, not a single nomination was filed before the closure of the deadline on Tuesday. Apparently, the TDP backed out from the contest.
As a result, Peddireddy has proved that there is nobody who could challenge his writ in Punganur.
TDP in-charge of Punganur Srinath Reddy, however, defended his party’s decision not to file any nominations in these wards in Punganur.
He said the TDP candidates could not contest the elections only because of threats from Peddireddy.
“Three TDP candidates were threatened of dire consequences if they filed their nominations and two others were abducted by Peddireddy’s men. Their whereabouts are not known yet. In protest, we have decided against contesting the polls,” he said, adding that the TDP leaders might not be allowed to contest even ZPTC and MPTC elections.