Twist In Tale: AB Venkateswara Rao Fires On NDA!

For many years, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) has enjoyed one of the strongest loyalist bases in Andhra Pradesh. Considering that the party has been active for more than four decades, it has built considerable goodwill among its supporters.

However, there are times when even the party's staunch supporters step outside their usual political circles, and one such case involves A.B. Venkateswara Rao.

Former IPS officer A.B. Venkateswara Rao is contesting for the post of Mayor of the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation as an independent candidate. After being considered a strong supporter of the TDP for many years, he is now stepping outside his usual political sphere to contest the election.

He is contesting with the support of the Congress, CPI, CPM, and other parties. On Wednesday, he said that the comprehensive development of Vijayawada and finding effective solutions to existing civic problems would be his priorities if elected mayor.

He said that the underground drainage issue in Vijayawada had persisted for many years, but crores of rupees originally allocated for the project had not been utilised as intended.

The senior IPS officer alleged that successive governments that had governed Vijayawada's local body had diverted funds designated for the drainage project.

He went on to say that several sanitation and civic infrastructure projects had remained pending in Vijayawada and that these could be completed only if he became mayor. Having been viewed as a TDP sympathiser for many years, he is now stepping out of that image and putting forward his own political agenda.

The senior administrative officer also said that he would remain independent of the political approaches of both the TDP and the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP). He claims to have a corruption-free vision for developing Vijayawada, which he believes cannot be achieved under the other two parties.

He will now have to take on Jana Sena candidate Vangaveeti Radhakrishna in this electoral contest.