Raghurama Raju admits he ‘lost the game’

Hyderabad: If the Telugu Desam candidates do not withdraw their nominations by April 23, they will remain in the fray as official candidates of the party.

While this was so, Raghurama Krishnam Raju, a recent entrant into the BJP from the YSRC, who had filed papers on behalf of both the TD and the BJP from the Narsapuram Lok Sabha segment, decided to opt out of the race saying that he had “lost the game.”

He had filed his nomination papers without the requisite B-form. At the completion of the nomination process on Saturday, he said he would work for the alliance candidate Gokaraju Ganga Raju.

“I did not get the ticket due to the mischief played by certain organisations. In fact, I was offered the party ticket from Narsapuram at the very beginning when I joined the BJP. But a few organisations worked against me. I have totally failed in the game and am opting out,” Mr Raju told this correspondent over phone from Narsapuram.