Hyderabad: Telugu megastar and MLA K
Chiranjeevi, who filed his nomination for March 30 election to
Rajya Sabha on Monday said he would not insist on allocation of
the Tirupati Assembly seat to any of his family members.
Bypoll to this seat becomes inevitable as Chiranjeevi,
the incumbent Congress MLA, will resign from it after he
formally gets elected to the Upper House of Parliament.
Speculation was rife the actor-turned-politician would
like to field either his younger brother and actor Nagendra
Babu or brother-in-law Allu Aravind from the temple town.
"I have a close affinity to Tirupati but I shall not
insist on allotting the Assembly seat to my kin," Chiranjeevi
told reporters after filing his papers.
Chiranjeevi`s assertion clears the way for Jay Galla,
an industrialist who has set his eyes on Tirupati.
Jay, Chairman of CII-Andhra Pradesh, is the son of
Andhra Pradesh Mines Minister Galla Aruna Kumari, who
represents Chandragiri in their native Chittoor district.
"What`s wrong in my son contesting from Tirupati? Our
family has been in politics for decades and serving the
people," Aruna Kumari said when reporters raised the issue a
few days ago.
Once the Tirupati Assembly seat falls vacant, the
total number of constituencies that face by-elections in the
state in the next few months will rise to 18.
Assembly Speaker Nadendla Manohar recently
disqualified 16 ruling Congress MLAs and accepted the
resignation of an erstwhile Praja Rajyam Party legislator for
voting against the Government on the no-confidence motion (in
December last). These 17 MLAs are sailing with YSR Congress of
Kadapa MP Y S Jaganmohan Reddy.
Barring one (Parakal) in Telangana, rest of the
constituencies are in Andhra-Rayalaseema regions.
PTI
