VIJAYAWADA: Both the ruling TDP and Opposition YSRC have fielded many fresh faces for the April 11 Lok Sabha elections in the State. As both the parties are targeting to win as many number of MP seats as possible to play a crucial role in national politics, they finalised the candidates after going through all equations.
The YSRC fielded more fresh faces when compared to the TDP, which reposed faith in old horses. While 18 YSRC candidates are contesting for first time, the TDP has picked up 10 new contestants, including two State ministers. Except YS Avinash Reddy, PV Midhun Reddy, Modugula Venugopala Reddy, Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy and Vanga Geetha (elected as MPs earlier), Adala Prabhakar Reddy and Balasouri (contested for the LS polls earlier), all the remaining 18 candidates fielded by the YSRC are new faces.
In the TDP, several sitting MPs including K Rammohan Naidu, P Ashok Gajapathi Raju, Maganti Babu, Konakalla Narayana, Kesineni Srinivas (Nani), Galla Jayadev, Rayapati Sambasiva Rao, Sriram Malyadri, Nimmala Kistappa and N Siva Prasad retained their candidatures. Similarly, former Union ministers including V Kishore Chandra Deo, Kotla Suryaprakash Reddy and Panabaka Lakshmi, who won as Lok Sabha MPs earlier on Congress ticket also got the tickets after joining the TDP. Chalamalasetty Sunil, who unsuccessfully contested from Kakinada LS seat on YSRC ticket in 2014, got the same seat after joining the TDP.
A TDP leader says that the relentless efforts by the party MPs both in and outside Parliament demanding justice to AP fetched them the confidence of Chandrababu Naidu, who decided to field them again. Among the TDP MPs who are seeking re-election, Rammohan Naidu, Galla Jaydev and Kesineni Nani were more vocal in Parliament while another MP Siva Prasad got the attention of the entire nation by donning various roles — mythological and dramatic — in and outside Parliament on the Special Category Status issue.
However, the YSRC leaders argue that the list of MP candidates of the party stood out as a testimony to the commitment of Jagan Mohan Reddy to promote new leaders.
TDP’s fresh faces for LS polls
M Bharat (Vizag )
Adari Anand (Anakapalli)
Ganti Harish (Amalapuram)
Maganti Rupa (Rajamahendravaram)
V Siva Rama Raju (Narsapur)
S Raghava Rao (Ongole)
Beeda Mastan Rao (Nellore)
Adinarayana Reddy (Kadapa)
D Sathyaprabha (Rajampet)
Sivananda Reddy (Nandyal)
Pavan Reddy (Anantapur)
YSRC’s new faces
Reddappa (Chittoor)
B Durgaprasad (Tirupati)
Gorantla Madhav (Hindupur)
Talari Rangaiah (Anantapur)
Sanjeev Kumar (Kurnool)
P Brahmananda Reddy (Nandyal)
Nandigama Suresh (Bapatla)
Lavu Krishna Devarayulu (Narasaraopet)
Vara Prasad (Vijayawada)
Kotagiri Sridhar (Eluru)
R Krishnam Raju (Narsapur)
Mangana Bharat (Rajahmundry)
Chinta Anuradha (Amalapuram)
K Venkata Satyavathi (Anakapalli)
Satyanarayana (Vizag)
B Chandrasekhar (Vizianagaram)
Duvvada Srinivas (Srikakulam)
Goddeti Madhavi (Araku)