The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and its ally, the Jana Sena Party (JSP), are focussing on the Palasa Assembly constituency in Srikakulam district, which is currently being represented by Animal Husbandry Minister Sidiri Appala Raju.
As part of the efforts to wrest the seat back from the ruling YSR Congress Party (YSRCP), TDP’s Palasa in-charge Gowthu Sirisha and JSP leaders Pisini Chandramohan and Daneti Sridhar have been conducting meetings in all the mandals of the constituency to consolidate the vote-bank in the constituency that has traditionally been the TDP bastion for decades.
TDP national president and former Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu is expected to conduct the party’s ‘Raa Kadali Raa’ public meeting soon in the constituency, according to Ms. Sirisha. Mr. Naidu’s public meeting scheduled for March 8 has been postponed due to his busy schedule, she says.
The TDP-JSP combine will be victorious in the constituency as people are not happy with the YSRCP administration, she asserts.
Referring to the ruling party’s claims that it has an edge in the constituency as the government constructed a hospital-cum-research center exclusively for the benefit of the kidney patients, and that it will be its poll plank, Mr. Chandramohan and Dr. Sridhar say that JSP president Pawan Kalyan is, in fact, the first person to highlight the plight of the kidney patients about six years ago.
“Following Mr. Pawan Kalyan’s efforts, doctors from the U.S. visited Palasa and interacted with the patients. So, the credit for construction of the hospital goes to Mr. Pawan Kalyan,” says Mr. Chandramohan.
