Tirumala: A day before their fate will be sealed by voters, on May 7, Nara Lokesh, the son of Telugu Desam supremo N. Chandrababu Naidu, and his ‘Peddamma’ Daggubati Purandeswari of the BJP, accompanied by her husband Daggubati Venkateswara Rao and her daughter, sought the divine intervention of Lord Venkateswara at Tirumala.
The relatives did not arrive at the temple complex together. They offered prayers to Lord Venkateswara inside the sanctum sanctorum. Officials of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams offered prasadams to the VIPs.
They addressed the media separately too. Mr Lokesh said he prayed to the Almighty for the victory of the Telugu Desam while Ms Purandeswari said she prayed for the victory of the Bharatiya Janata Party and Telugu Desam, which are in an alliance, so that the state and the nation would see overall progress and development.
Relations between the NaraNandamuri and the Daggubati families were definitely cold throughout the campaigning. Neither Mr Naidu, who toured the district thrice, nor Mr Lokesh who has toured the district extensively in the last three days, gave Ms Purandeswari the importance they gave other candidates contesting on the TD-BJP ticket in the district.
Mr Naidu during his tour of the Assembly constituencies falling under the Rajampet Lok Sabha constituency from where Ms Purandeswari is contesting on the BJP ticket, did mention her name as a formality during the Madanapalle public meeting (though he skipped it during his public meeting at Piler).
But Naidu junior avoided the Assembly constituencies important for his ‘Peddamma’.
