AMARAVATI:
Telugu Desam Party (TDP)has released the list of the candidates for Lok Sabha and assembly elections in the wee hours of Tuesday. Party supremo Chandrababu Naidu held last round of discussion with the strategy committee late on Monday night and finalized the candidates for all the 25 Lok Sabha constituencies.
After making a careful assessment of the contenders, Telugu Desam Party (TDP) Supremo Chandrababu Naidu has retained 10 sitting MPs as candidates for the upcoming
Lok Sabha elections
. Six-time MP Rayapati Sambasiva Rao has the last laugh as the party has finally agreed to him to enter the fray from Narasaraopet Lok Sabha constituency.
Taking the views of the assembly candidates into consideration, party supremo has agreed to field Gitam educational institutions president and younger son-in-law of an actor-turned legislator, Nandamuri Balakrishna, M Sri Bharath as a candidate for Visakhapatnam Lok Sabha constituency.
TDP has won 15 Lok Sabha seats in the previous elections and two MPs switched sides from YSRCP. Two senior MPs M Murali Mohan (Rajahmundry) and JC Diwakar Reddy (Ananthapur) took voluntary retirement from public life. Murali Mohan’s daughter-in-law Maganti Rupa has been picked up as party’s candidate for Rajahmundry while Diwakar’s son Pawan Kumar Reddy is the candidate for Anantapur LS seat.
While three of its sitting MPs M Srinivasa Rao (Anakapalle), Pandula Ravindra Babu (Amalapuram) and Thota Narasimham (Kakinada) quit the party, the party denied tickets to both the turncoat MPs Butta Renuka (Kurnool) and SPY Reddy (Nandyal).
Although former Congress MP Harsha Kumar is looked snatching away with the Amalapuram Loksabha ticket when he joined the party two days ago, Chandrababu Naidu decided to go with late Loksabha speaker GMC Balayogi’s son Harish Mathur in view of the respect commanded by the late speaker in the constituency. Party had also shifted Undi legislator Sivaramaraju to Narsapur Loksabha as he has clean image among the local electorate. Interestingly, Bapatla MP Sriram Malyadri who was named as Tadikonda assembly candidate in the previous list has finally got his seat back as the party decided to honour his views. The former IRS officer, Malyadri expressed his inability to contest assembly elections.
Forests and environment minister Sidda Raghava Rao was made to contest from Ongole Loksabha constituency while marketing minister Adinarayana Reddy was fielded from Kadapa LS seat. Former union ministers and long-time Congress associates, KJ Suryaprakash Reddy will contest from Kurnool Loksabha constituency and Panabaka Lakshmi from Tirupati LS constituency.
Senior leader and former civil aviation minister P Ashok Gajapati Raju will contest from his family bastion Vizianagaram.
TDP candidates for Lok Sabha pollsSrikakulam: K Rammohannaidu (Sitting MP)
Vizianagaram: P Ashok Gajapathi Raju (Sitting MP)
Visakhapatnam: M Sri Bharath
Amalapuram: Ganti Harish Mathur
Kakinada: Sunil Chalamalasetti
Rajahmundry: Maganti Rupa
Elur: Magati Venteswara Rao (Babu) (Sitting MP)
Narspur: V Sivarama Raju
Machilipatnam: Konakalla Narayana (Sitting MP)
Vijayawada: Kesineni Srinivas (Nani) (Sitting MP)
Guntur: Galla Jayadev (Sitting MP)
Bapatla: Sriram Malyadri (Sitting MP)
Narasaraopet: Rayapati Sambasiva Rao (Sitting MP)
Ongole: Sidda Raghava Rao
Nellore: Bida Mastan Rao
Kurnool: Kotla Jaya Suryaprakash Reddy
Nandyal: M Sivananda Reddy
Anantapur: JC Pawan Kumar Reddy
Hindupur: Nimmalla Kistappa (Sitting MP)
Kadapa: C Adinarayana Reddy
Rajampet: DK Satyaprabha
Chittoor: N Sivaprasad (Sitting MP)
Tirupati: Panabaka Lakshmi