Andhra Pradesh’s ruling Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP) on Friday night announced its party general secretary and Rajya Sabha member V Vijayasai Reddy as the MP candidate for Nellore Lok Sabha seat in the upcoming general elections.
The development has come as a huge surprise for the party leaders and cadres, as Vijayasai has never fought a direct election and all the while, has been part of the core team of party president and chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, playing a key role in the selection of candidates.
A senior party leader familiar with the development said, Vijayasai’s name had not figured in any of the surveys conducted by the party as well as its political strategy team of Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC).
“Though Vijayasai hails from Nellore, he has no direct connection with the local people or cadre as he has been a lobbyist for the party, rather than a public figure,” he said.
The development is an indication to a peculiar trend in the YSRCP as several MP candidates of the party are not evincing interest in contesting the Lok Sabha elections again. One of the main reasons, according to the party leader quoted above, is that the MP candidates are not sure of getting elected again.
“In the last five years, they have hardly done anything for the people of the constituency, as the entire political scenario in their respective districts was dominated by the local MLAs. The MPs were forced to remain mere figure heads,” he added.
In fact, Vijayasai’s name for the Nellore Lok Sabha seat was brought to the fore as there were no takers for the seat. Sitting MP Adala Prabhakar Reddy has been shifted to Nellore (rural) assembly seat. Jagan has asked industrialist-turned-politician and Rajya Sabha member Vemireddy Prabhakar Reddy to contest, but the latter defected to the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), with a hope that there are better chances of winning the seat from the party.
In many other parliamentary constituencies, too, Jagan could not find right candidates to contest the Lok Sabha elections. In Visakhapatnam, sitting MP MV V Satyanarayana did not evince interest in contesting the Lok Sabha elections again. He was then shifted to Visakhapatnam (east) assembly constituency and in his place, Jagan was forced to nominate former MP from Vizianagaram, Botsa Jhansi.
In Eluru, sitting MP Kotagiri Sridhar dropped out and in Rajahmundry parliamentary constituency, sitting MP Margani Bharat preferred to contest as an MLA from Rajahmundry (city) constituency. For Ongole Lok Sabha seat, Jagan did not find a right candidate for a long time to replace sitting MP Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy who apparently refused to bear the huge expenditure.
Finally, he had to shift Chevireddy Bhaskar Reddy, sitting MLA from Chandragiri in Chittoor district to Ongole Lok Sabha seat.
In Narsaraopet parliamentary constituency, too, the party surveys indicated that sitting MP Lavu Srikrishna Devarayalu might lose and so, the CM asked him to move to Guntur.
So, he denied the ticket to Devarayalu and had to shift sitting MLA from Nellore (rural) P Anil Kumar Yadav to Narsaraopet.
In Guntur, too, Jagan struggled to find the right candidate. Though the name of Indian cricketer Ambati Rayudu was proposed, he quit the party within two weeks of joining in January.
After waiting for a suitable candidate, Jagan finally brought in party MLA from Ponnur Kilaru Rosaiah to contest from the Guntur Lok Sabha seat.
Similarly, in Kurnool, sitting MP Sanjeev Kumar refused to contest and subsequently quit the party.
The YSRCP chief asked his party MLA from Aluru Gummanuru Jayaram to contest from Kurnool Lok Sabha seat, but he refused and quit the party; he is likely to join the TDP.
In several other Lok Sabha constituencies like Anantapur, Hindupur, Araku (ST), Machilipatnam, Kakinada and Anakapalle, too, Jagan had to struggle to find candidates. He resorted to either shifting of MLAs to MP seats or finding new faces.
In Telangana, too, the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), which was in power till recently, is facing a similar situation, as the sitting MPs are not very much interested in contesting from the party, fearing defeat.
In the last two days, two BRS Lok Sabha members – Pothuganti Ramulu from Achampet and BB Patil from Zaheerabad – resigned from the party and defected to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which stands a better chance of winning the seats.
Another BRS MP from Peddapalli parliamentary constituency Venkatesh Netha also resigned from the party and defected to the Congress party on February 6.
According to a party leader who refused to be named, Chevella MP G Ranjith Reddy, who was the first one to be officially announced as the BRS candidate again, has expressed his disinterest in contesting the Lok Sabha elections this year.
“Apparently, the defection of former minister Patnam Mahender Reddy, along with his wife and Vikarababad zilla parishad chairperson Sunitha into the Congress hastened his decision not to contest. Added to this, BJP is fielding former MP Konda Vishweshwar Reddy, another strong candidate. So, the fight would be mainly between the Congress and the BJP and the chances of Ranjith Reddy winning the seat are bleak,” said the BRS leader.
Similarly, Nama Nageswara Rao, the MP from Khammam, is also said to be not keen on contesting for Lok Sabha elections again, as the Congress swept all the assembly seats in the district in the recent elections.
