Naidu blocks Purandeswari ticket to Vizag LS seat
NEW DELHI: Telugu Desam Party chief N Chandrababu Naidu has succeeded in convincing BJP leadership not to field his estranged sister-in-law D Purandeswari in the Lok Sabha elections.
Purandeswari is keen on contesting from Visakhapatnam, a high-profile constituency from where YSR Congress Party honorary president Y S Vijayalakshmi is testing her electoral fortunes this time.
The BJP leadership is not in a position to antagonize Naidu as he has come back to the NDA fold after a gap of over a decade and the saffron party is giving him a lot of importance primarily because his return spells the end of the secular brigade's untouchability with its Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi. Naidu would also help them win seats in a State where the party's prospects are hardly encouraging.
Purandeswari, a union minister in both UPA-I and UPA-II, had crossed over to BJP just as the 15th Lok Sabha was getting dissolved. Her contesting from a Seemandhra seat on a BJP ticket was almost considered certain.
It is learnt that Naidu conveyed to the BJP leadership that he would not be comfortable with the idea of the former union minister Puradeswari contesting from any of the BJP seats in Seemandhra.
Sensing the trickiness of the situation, the party leadership thinks it is better to utilize Purandeswari's services as a campaigner and party-builder rather than a candidate in this election.
The family feud between the Naidu and Purandeswarigoes back several decades. On several occasions in the past, both were engaged in war of words over NTR's political legacy.
Sources involved in the alliance discussions said Naidu's objections had dimmed Purandeswari's chances of victory as TDP cadres would most certainly not campaign for her.
The problem of finding a suitable constituency was also an issue, BJP insiders explained. Purandeswari wanted to seek re-election from Vishkhapatnam but BJP Seemandhra chief Hari Babu staked his claim there.
Of the other three seats in the BJP quota, Rajampet was offered but NTR's daughter was not very interested. So, it looks like Naidu's sister-in-law and the only well-known face of the BJP in Seemandhra may have to cool her heels for now.
As a party functionary pointed out, 'we want to see her contribution in the long term perspective she must also look at it that way.
News Posted: 16 April, 2014
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