Kakinada: Telugu Desam leaders and the cadres in Undi Assembly constituency surrounded the Telugu Desam West Godavari district president Thota Sitharama Lakshmi’s house on Thursday, demanding that the TD give the election ticket to sitting MLA Manthena Rama Raju.
Initially, the TD had allotted Undi to Manthena Rama Raju and he started his campaign.
Meanwhile, the controversial Narsapuram MP K. Raghu Rama Krishna Raju joined the Telugu Desam and there were rumours that Undi would be given to him. This angered Telugu Desam cadres in the constituency.
On Thursday, they took out a rally from the TD office at Bhimavaram to Thota Sitharama Lakshmi’s house and expressed their resentment. They said Rama Raju had strengthened the party in adverse conditions and he successfully took the TD schemes to the people. “Unless the sitting MLA Rama Raju is fielded as the Undi candidate, we would not support TD. Rama Raju would contest from the constituency as an Independent candidate,” they warned the leadership.
Thota Sitha Ramalakshmi promised the cadres that the party would give priority to those who have made sacrifices for the party. She would take the cadres’ opinion to the notice of TD chief Chandrababu Naidu.
Later, the cadres took up a ‘Vanta-Varpu’ programme at Bhimavaram.
Meanwhile, three TD workers --TD West Godavari district general secretary Juthiga Srinivas, Telugu Yuvatha Undi assembly president Chennamsetty Hari Naidu, and TD youth wing leader Kala Ganesh-took up a hunger strike at Undi village.
They would continue their agitation till they received a promise from Chandrababu that the sitting MLA would be fielded as the party candidate for Undi.
