Jayaprada announces her debut in theatre with a dance ballet, Amrapali, in Mumbai. (PTI)

Hyderabad, June 20: Jayaprada might just ride off merrily on Chandrababu Naidu’s bicycle.

The star-turned-politician who fell out with Naidu two years ago and teamed up with Mulayam Singh Yadav on the rebound might just have got her own back: her Samajwadi Party is on the verge of snatching the bicycle symbol from the Telugu Desam Party.

Whether Jayaprada, now the Samajwadi Party MP from Rampur, had a hand in it is anyone’s guess, but she is known not to forget insults or forgive anyone who treats her ill.

She was livid when Naidu had her removed as president of the Desam women’s wing in 2003 and refused to re-nominate her to the Rajya Sabha.

If things go according to Election Commission rules, the bicycle ? the Desam’s symbol from 1982 ? will most likely slip through Naidu’s fingers. In case of a symbol tussle, a party having presence in three or more states is the frontrunner.

With the Samajwadi Party making a foray in Karnataka in the recent bypolls ? S. Bangarappa romped home from Shimoga ? the scales are tilted in its favour. It has 36 MPs in the Lok Sabha from Uttar Pradesh and one from Uttaranchal.

Expectedly, the Desam is fighting to keep its identity. Last week, Naidu wrote a letter to Mulayam Singh urging him to give up claim on the bicycle. There has so far been no word from the Uttar Pradesh chief minister.

“One of the two of us, the Telugu Desam or the Samajwadi Party, will have to choose a new symbol. We hope Mulayam Singh, who is a good friend of Naidu’s, will give up the bicycle,” Desam secretary S. Venugopalachari said.

There was a similar tussle for the bicycle in 1995 when Naidu snatched the Desam reins from N.T. Rama Rao. But Naidu had come up trumps then as he had more MLAs in his camp than his rival.

Desam (NTR) then picked the lion for its symbol, on which it contested the 1996 general elections under NTR’s widow Lakshmi Parvati.