Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu is reliably looking for a safe Assembly seat in Krishna and Guntur districts, as he had made up his mind to give his Kuppam seat to his son Nara Lokesh. The family members have had a talk about this during his recent visit to the family in Hyderabad and had told his son to take care of Kuppam. It was only after this family meeting, Lokesh had announced that he would contest the Assembly elections.
Having decided to give up the Kuppam constituency, Chandrababu Naidu had set his eyes on the Assembly constituencies in Krishna and Guntur districts. The sources said that Mylavaram constituency in Krishna and Ponnuru constituency in Guntur district were found to be safest places for Chandrababu Naidu this time. As Naidu would have to campaign for the party in all the 175 constituencies, he will not be able to campaign for his own seat and hence it should be the safest seat for the party. In that way, both Mylavaram and Ponnur are found to be the safest places for him, the sources added.
If Chandrababu Naidu opts for Mylavaram, the sitting MLA, Devineni Umamaheswara Rao, who is also Minister for Water Resources, would have to be moved to Nuzvid, where the party is also looking at the candidature of former Congress MP Lagadapati Rajagopal.
Similarly, if Naidu choses Ponnur constituency in Guntur district, the sitting MLA Dhulipala Narendra Kumar, would have to be moved to some other constituency or to be made MLC. Accommodating Narendra is not a big deal for Chandrababu Naidu. The six-time MLA had been waiting for Cabinet berth and Chandrababu Naidu can promise him the same in the event of the party retaining power at the elections. Narendra can become MLC immediately filling the vacancy caused by Nara Lokesh, the party sources said.
