TDP Is Back, So Is Ganta!

The MLC elections have brought a change in former minister and TDP MLA Ganta Srinivas Rao. Rao, who had been staying away from the TDP for the last four years, is trying to get close to the party now.

Though elected as the MLA in 2019, he kept himself away from the party activities in North Vizag, from where he contested. He tried to get close to the YCP after it came to power but with senior leaders of that party like Avanti Srinivas getting alert, Ganta could not enter into the party.

Later, there was buzz that he would join the Jana Sena, as he has close relations with the Mega family. There was talk that he even met Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan when he came to Vizag but the move did not proceed further.

With rumours about the TDP-Jana Sena alliance likely in the future, Ganta began thinking that he will be able to grow if he sticks with his current status. Immediately, he began getting active in the TDP. There is talk that Ganta is trying to get elevated as the TDP’s strategist because his calculations over the MLC candidate proved right. Ganta suggested the name of Vepada Chiranjeevi Rao, a lecturer, as the TDP-supported candidate from North Andhra during the MLC polls. With the help of an MLC, he sent Vepada to TDP boss N. Chandrababu Naidu and told him to speak about the other details.

Ganta and former minister Ayyanna Patrudu have been at loggerheads since long. By the time, Vepada approached the TDP high command, Ayyana Patrudu had already suggested the name of Gadu Chinna Kumari Lakshmi for the MLC seat. However, considering the caste equations and winning chances, Chandrababu Naidu replaced Kumari Lakshmi with Vepada.

Ganta had even taken part in the MLC campaigning and asked the voters to support Vepada. With Vepada’s victory being finalized, Ganta is trying to claim the credit for it. Reportedly, he kept monitoring the counting process in the night and even criticized the ruling YCP and portrayed himself as a staunch loyalist of the TDP.

When Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy proposed the three-capital formula, he praised Jagan but now, is trying to corner the YCP, reminded a TDP leader. There is criticism that Ganta had been silent even when his close relative and former minister P. Narayana was being put to trouble by the YCP.