Senior Telugu Desam Party leader and former Union minister Panabaka Lakshmi is all set to call it quits to the party and might return to her parent party – the Congress, along with her husband Panabaka Krishnaiah.
According to party sources, Panabaka Lakshmi has asked for the party ticket for contesting the Lok Sabha elections from Tirupati parliamentary constituency in the coming elections, but TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu has ignored her request.
She also requested that her name be considered for at least Bapatla Lok Sabha seat which she had represented in the past.
But Naidu, who went by the surveys conducted by his strategy team – Showtime Consulting – told her that in both Tirupati and Bapatla, she stands no chance of winning.
Panabaka contested the 2019 Lok Sabha elections on TDP ticket from Tirupati, which is reserved for SCs. Though she lost the elections, Naidu gave her the party ticket again in the by-elections held for the seat, but she lost the seat with a heavy margin.
Now, she tried her luck this time once again, but did not succeed.
As there is a heavy competition in the TDP for every seat, Lakshmi has realised that she doesn’t have any chance of getting the party ticket. Upset with this, she has decided to resign from the party, sources said.
Sources said Panabaka Lakshmi has sent feelers to Congress president Y S Sharmila saying she was ready to return to the party, if the party can offer the ticket for Tirupati or Bapatla Lok Sabha seat.
Panabaka was a four-time MP – three times from Nellore and once from Bapatla (2009). After the Congress lost its ground in 2014, she quit the party and joined the TDP.