BJP announces first list of 126 candidates for Andhra Pradesh assembly elections

VIJAYAWADA: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) announced its first list of candidates for 126 assembly constituencies in Andhra Pradesh on Sunday. The party’s central election committee, headed by national president Amit Shah and attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, home minister Rajnath Singh, finance minister Arun Jaitley and external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj met on Saturday and finalised the names for assembly candidates.
Out of the 126 names, 25 candidates from SC reserved constituencies and five from ST reserved constituencies found place in the first list.While no Muslim minority found place in the first list, six women were given tickets.
Interestingly, no prominent names were found in the first list of BJP except Vishnukumar Raju from Visakhapatnam North. Former ministers Kamineni Srinivas and Paidikondala Manikyala Rao and state BJP president Kanna Lakshminarayana were not included in the first list.
N S Tulasinath was selected as BJP candidate from Kuppam to take on chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu. Jaggarapu Rammohan Rao will contest from Mangalagiri where Nara Lokesh is contesting from TDP. The BJP is yet to choose its candidate for Pulivendula to take on YSRC chief YS Jaganmohan Reddy.
The BJP had a pre-poll alliance with TDP in 2014 elections. It contested on 15 assembly and five Lok Sabha constituencies and won four assembly and two Lok Sabha. This time it is facing the elections on its own and has announced to contest all 175 assembly and 25 Parliament seats.