Naga Babu Files Nomination For MLC Elections In AP

Amaravati: Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan’s brother K Naga Babu on Friday filed his nomination for the Legislative Council election as the Jana Sena Party candidate.

Naga Babu is one of the five candidates of the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) for election to the Council from the MLAs quota scheduled on March 10.

Information Technology and Human Resources Development Minister Nara Lokesh, BJP MLA Vishnu Kumar Raju, and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) state President Palla Srinivasa Rao backed Naga Babu’s candidature.

Civil Supplies Minister Nadendla Manohar and some MLAs of the Jana Sena Party were present when Naga Babu submitted his nomination papers to the returning officer.

Pawan Kalyan, who is the Jana Sena President, on Wednesday named Naga Babu as the party candidate for MLC polls. Naga Babu, the elder brother of Pawan Kalyan and younger brother of megastar Chiranjeevi, is also an actor and film producer. As the General Secretary of the party, he actively campaigned in the last year’s elections.

Naga Babu, whose real name is Nagendra Babu, will be inducted into the Cabinet after he is elected as an MLC as Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has already announced. Elections to five seats of Andhra Pradesh Legislative Council from MLAs’ quota are scheduled on March 10. The Telugu Desam Party-led NDA is in a strong position to sweep the polls. The TDP and its allies, the Jana Sena and the BJP, together have 164 seats in the 175-member Assembly.

The TDP has 135 members while Jana Sena and BJP have 21 and 8 seats, respectively. The TDP may leave two MLC seats for the Jana Sena and one for the BJP. CM Naidu, who is also the TDP President, had, while announcing two candidates for by-elections to the Rajya Sabha and leaving the third seat for the BJP, decided to accommodate the Jana Sena in his Cabinet. Naga Babu will be the fourth minister from the Jana Sena, apart from Pawan Kalyan, Manohar and Kandula Durgesh.