TIRUPATI: The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) on Monday named former union minister of state Panabaka Lakshmi as its candidate for the by-election to the Tirupati (SC) Lok Sabha constituency. Even before the election schedule was released, this announcement by the TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu exposed his double standards when it came to upholding values.

As tradition by any party, if any elected leader of the party succumbs during his tenure, the party selects any member of the family as a candidate on behalf of the party. Adhering to this it may be recollected that during 2015, the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) did not field a candidate in the elections following the death of M Venkataramana, the then Tirupati TDP MLA and let his widow M Suguna contest as per "the practise" of letting a family member of a departed MLA contest unopposed.

Now it does not seem to hold case with either the TDP or the BJP who are in a rush to announce their candidates for the Tirupati LS By Polls even before the dates were announced by the Election Commission.

Everyone is under the assumption that one of his family members would be unanimously elected to fill the vacancy left by the sudden death of Tirupati YSRCP MP Balli Durgaprasad.

The TDP and the BJP have put those values aside, are vying for the Lok Sabha seat, and are busy drawing strategies to win over the voters.

Recently, BJP state president Somu Veer Raju announced that they were also jumping into the fray, seeking to reclaim Tirupati, which it once represented in Parliament in 1999. Party sources said the local units have been identifying and short-listing the probable candidates and recommend to the central leadership.

On Monday, Chandrababu announced Panabaka Lakshmi as the TDP candidate. However, there was a strong rumour that Panabaka was going to don the orange shawl by joining the BJP, but now with the official announcement by Chandrababu fielding her as the TDP candidate put rumours to rest.

The Tirupati bypolls were necessitated by the sudden demise of sitting MP Balineni Durga Prasad of the YSRCP who passed away in Chennai due to COVID-19 in September this year.