VIJAYAWADA: At least eight new faces will make their way to the Lok Sabha from Andhra Pradesh, while former MPs like Botcha Jhansi and Daggubati Purandeswari, if they win in the elections, will enter Parliament from new constituencies.
While the YSRC has changed several of its sitting MPs as per caste equations and their winning prospects, the TDP has effected some changes in view of its alliance with the BJP and JSP. Of the total 25 Lok Sabha seats, the TDP has contested 17, leaving six to the BJP and two to the JSP as part of alliance.
In Anakapalle, the BJP has fielded former Rajya Sabha MP CM Ramesh. Though the BJP wanted Visakhapatnam, it was allocated Anakapalle by its alliance partner TDP. The JSP, which initially wanted to field Pawan Kalyan’s brother Nagababu from Anakapalle, gave away the seat to the BJP.
With Ramesh hailing from the Velama community, the YSRC leadership weighed several options, and gave Deputy Chief Minister Budi Mutyala Naidu a chance to contest from the seat, replacing its sitting MP B Venkata Satyavathi.
In Kurnool, the YSRC dropped its sitting MP S Sanjeev Kumar, and fielded Kurnool Mayor BY Ramaiah. The TDP, on the other hand, wanted to give Finance Minister and Dhone MLA a tough contest, and shifted Kotla Jayasurya Prakash Reddy to Dhone Assembly segment. The former Union minister unsuccessfully contested the Lok Sabha seat in the last elections.
In the process, the TDP has fielded Panchalingala Nagaraju from Kurnool.
In Kakinada, the JSP has fielded Tea Time owner Tangella Uday Srinivas, who is facing his first election. The YSRC has shifted its sitting MP Vanga Geetha to Pithapuram Assembly constituency, and she is pitted against JSP chief Pawan Kalyan. The YSRC has fielded Chalamalasetty Sunil from Kakinada. Sunil unsuccessfully contested from the Lok Sabha seat earlier.
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The Congress has fielded former Union minister MM Pallam Raju, but with the dwindling support to the party, it is unlikely that the party may put in an impressive performance.
In Eluru and Guntur Lok Sabha seats, the sitting MPs have opted not to contest, and quit electoral politics. Both the TDP and the YSRC have fielded new faces from the two segments.
In Guntur, two-time MP Galla Jayadev decided to quit electoral politics. Hence, the TDP has fielded NRI Pemmasani Chandrasekhar. To counter the NRI, the YSRC has fielded its sitting Ponnur MLA Kilari Venkata Rosaiah instead of M Venugopal Reddy, who lost in the 2019 elections.
In Eluru, the sitting YSRC MP Kotagiri Sridhar has kept away from party activities due to various reasons. The YSRC, as part of its social engineering, has given the ticket to a BC and fielded Karumuri Sunil Kumar Yadav, son of Civil Supplies Minister Karumuri Venkata Nageswara Rao.
The TDP too followed suit and fielded Putta Mahesh Yadav from Eluru, which elected its majority of MPs from the Kamma community like Kavuri Sambasiva Rao and Maganti Babu.
The YSRC has done a similar exercise in Narasapuram and fielded BC leader Guduri Umabala in place of its rebel MP K Raghu Rama Krishna Raju to attract BC voters. The BJP has fielded Bhupatiraju Srinivasa Varma as its candidate from Narasapuram, which it won earlier. In Amalapuram and Anantapur too, both the YSRC and the TDP have fielded fresh faces as part of their strategies to win majority of Lok Sabha seats in the elections
