Even after the passing of the last date of withdrawal in Seemandhra, Telugu, at least eight TDP rebels remain in the fray giving jitters to the official candidates of the BJP as well as the TDP.
The four Assembly constituencies that TDP had left for the BJP, where the TDP rebels remain in the fray include Guntakal, Kadapa, Santanutalapadu and Tadepallegudem. Despite its best efforts the rebels have refused to budge from the contest.
What is giving jitters to the BJP is the fact that in the three constituencies, the rebel candidates were in the fray as official candidates of the TDP as the party had given them the B-form before the seat-sharing agreement with the BJP was finalised.
In fourth constituency, Tadepallegudem of East Godavari, the TDP rebel candidate and former MlA K Satyanarayana was in the fray as an Independent candidate.
The BJP, however, has expressed concern over the presence of the TDP rebels in the fray as it can affect its prospects. The party was contesting in only 13 Assembly and four lok Sabha constituencies in Seemandhra.
State BJP official spokesperson Sudheesh Rabmhotla urged the Telugu Desam to ensure that the BJP candidates get full cooperation from the TDP in these constituencies. “We urge the TDP to take disciplinary action against the rebel candidates,” he said.
In other four constituencies, TDP rebels were pitted against the official candidates. They include Raptadu, Palcole, Kovuru and Bheemili.
Meanwhile the Congress has also suffered a major embarrassment on the last day of the withdrawal of nominations when two of its Assembly candidates withdrew from the contest without informing the party.
They include Devendrappa from Kalyanadurg constituency in Anantapur and K Appala Naidu from Narsipatanam in Visakhpatanam district. The development has forced the Congress party to support the CPI candidate in Kalyandurg and has no candidate left in Narasipatanam.
After the withdrawal, 333 candidates were in the fray in 25 lok Sabha constituencies while 2,243 candidates were contesting for the 175 Assembly constituencies where polling will be held on May 7.
Meanwhile popular film star Pawan Kalyan has decided to undertake election campaign for the TDP-BJP alliance in Telangana from Friday. As per the schedule announced on Thursday, the film star will do a roadshow in the surrounding areas of Hyderabad, covering the Assembly constituencies of Serilingampally, Kukatpally, Sanatnagar and Secunderabad.
He will visit Husnabad, Palakurthy and Sricilla on Saturday, lB Nagar, Khairatabad, Ibrahimpatanam and Amberpet on Sunday and Nalgonda, Bhongir and Mahbubabad on Monday.
The actor has, however, finalised his tour after Telugu Desam party supremo N Chandrababu Naidu called and urged him to campaign for the NDA.