Nellore: With the Mayor’s post in the Nellore Municipal Corporation falling vacant in the unreserved category, lobbying has intensified within the ruling alliance, as several aspirants are emerging from the Telugu Desam and the BJP.
The name of deputy mayor P Roopkumar Yadav is gaining traction within the TDP, alongside that of Vemireddy Vijayabhaskar Reddy, general manager of Narayana educational institutions, and his brother Vemireddy Pattabhirami Reddy.
Former civic body chairperson T Anuradha is also lobbying for the post.
Senior BJP leader P Surendra Reddy is likely to be the BJP nominee, although the party has not made any official announcement.
The Jana Sena has not proposed a candidate, offering some relief to the TDP as it negotiates competing claims within the alliance.
Seat-sharing remains a challenge.
Both the BJP and Jana Sena are reportedly seeking 5 to 10 corporator seats each out of the total 72, even as the TDP struggles to accommodate scores of aspirants and the 40 odd corporators who had defected from the YSR Congress to the ruling side.
Roopkumar Yadav’s candidature could gain significance in the context of chief minister Chandrababu Naidu’s recent statement favouring 34 per cent representation for Backward Classes.
TDP sources said Yadav could be considered for the (unreserved) mayor post though he belongs to a BC community.
However, the possibility of conceding the mayor post to the BJP appears remote.
A TDP leader cited the BJP’s defeats in the Nellore Rural assembly constituency in 2009 and 2014, when TD allotted the seat to the saffron party under the alliance arrangement. He wondered whether the TDP would agree to surrender the mayor position as well.
The YSR Congress has already named Anam Vijayakumar Reddy as its mayoral candidate, banking on his grassroots connections.
His candidature, however, will depend on the final reservation applicable to the post.
With no official announcement coming from the ruling side, the contest is expected to hinge on internal negotiations, caste factor and the broader seat-sharing formula for the municipal elections.
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