Following the sudden demise of Tirupati sitting MP Balli Durga Prasad, by-elections are set to be held in the constituency soon. The opposition party, Telugu Desam had recently announced that it will be fielding Panabaka Lakshmi in the by-election.
Today, the ruling party YSRC announced Dr. Gurumurthy as its candidate for the forthcoming by-election and this is coming as a big surprise to many.
Usually, political parties field a family member of the deceased sitting MLA or MP in the by-election and everyone thought YCP would follow the same tradition and allot the MP ticket to Balli Durga Prasad’s son Kalyan Chakravarty. But that wasn’t to be as they have gone with a relatively lesser known politician, Dr. Gurumurthy
YCP leaders Botcha Satyanarayana and Peddireddy Ramachandra Reddy stated that Durga Prasad’s son Kalyan Chakravarty will be elected as MLC in the near future.
Incidentally, the YCP government had recently created some high drama by setting out to dissolve the legislative council. Now, the party leaders are saying that they will send Balli Kalyan to the very same legislative council. Political observers say YCP is clearly backstabbing Balli family by not allotting them the MP ticket in the by-election.