Former IPS officer and BJP leader in TDP first list, along with past winners, YSRCP turncoats

Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief N Chandrababu Naidu on Friday released his party’s first list with 13 names for Lok Sabha seats in Andhra Pradesh, with the surprise inclusion of former Telangana-cadre IPS officer T Krishna Prasad as the nominee from Bapatla.

Prasad had joined the BJP in Telangana in July 2022, but had slowly begun to gravitate towards the TDP in recent weeks. TDP spokesperson K Pattabhi Ram said the allies agreed to field the 1986-batch IPS officer on the TDP symbol. “He is on our list now,” he said.

The TDP now has only four more names to announce, as it is contesting 17 Lok Sabha seats from Andhra Pradesh as part of the NDA, leaving the other 8 of the total 25 seats in the state for its allies, the BJP and JanaSena Party.

The names announced by the TDP Friday include two former YSRCP leaders, Lavi Sri Krishna Devarayulu and Vemireddy Prabhakar Reddy. While Vamireddy is an ex-Rajya Sabha MP, Devarayulu is the sitting Narasarapet MP who resigned from the YSRCP and joined the TDP after Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy asked him to shift from his seat and contest from Guntur. The TDP has fielded Devarayulu from Narasarapet.

Prasad, who retired in 2022, runs an NGO that donated critical equipment at the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic. Soon after his retirement, he had indicated his leanings towards the BJP with praise for Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Speaking to The Indian Express after joining the BJP, Prasad said he was ready to contest elections if fielded by the party.

The TDP nominated Kesineni Shivanath from the prestigious Vijayawada seat, currently held by his brother Kesineni Srinivas. The latter recently moved to the YSRCP after a falling out with Naidu, who wanted him to make way for Shivanath.