Visakhapatnam: With both the ruling YSRC and opposition TDP announcing their candidates for Gajuwaka assembly constituencies, battle lines have been drawn.
While the YSRC has decided to field IT Minister Gudivada Amarnath, putting an end to the ongoing speculation over his candidature, the TDP has chosen Palla Srinivas Rao.
Gajuwaka consists of an industrial belt including the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant. It is one of the important constituencies as Jana Sena president Pawan Kalyan had unsuccessfully contested the constituency against YSRC’s Tippala Nagireddy. The actor-politician lost the seat due to a multi-cornered contest. TDP and Jana Sena, which contested the elections separately, together got about 58% of the votes.
Earlier, it was speculated that the YSRC would choose corporator Urukuti Ramachandra Rao instead of sitting MLA Tippala Nagireddy.
Reportedly unhappy with the decision, Nagi Reddy’s supporters held separate meetings with party leaders in open protest. Ramachandra Rao also held parallel meetings with his followers in the constituency.
In an effort to control dissent, the YSRC leadership tried unsuccessfully to pacify the warring factions. First of all, the name of Mayor Hari Venkata Kumari, who belongs to the same community as Ramachandra Rao, came into discussion.
However, in a quick development, the party chose Amarnath, a close aide of Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, hoping that internal strife in the party would be reduced.
Now, he is coordinating with all YSRC leaders in Amarnath constituency to include them in the decision.
Meanwhile, Jana Sena leaders from Gajuwaka division, who had unanimously adopted a resolution urging Pawan to contest from the constituency, said they are ready for the fight. Palla Srinivasa Rao has been selected unanimously in TDP. He got 28.42% votes in Gajuwaka in 2019, slightly less than Pawan, who got 29.37% votes. Rao said that after joining hands with JSP and BJP, TDP is sitting quite quiet.
