AP Assembly polls: BJP releases list; Sujana Chowdary to contest from Vijayawada West

Vijayawada: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) announced 10 candidates for forthcoming Assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh.

Former Minister of State (MoS) and former Rajya Sabha member YS Chowdary aka Sujana Chowdary would contest from Vijayawada West, while BJP national secretary Y Satya Kumar from Dharmavaram.

As part of their alliance with the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and Jana Sena, the BJP would contest in 10 Assembly and six parliamentary constituencies in the state.

A couple of days ago, the BJP leadership announced its six candidates to contest from Aaraku, Rajampet, Rajahamahendravaram, Ankapalle, Tirupati, and Narasapuram. The TDP would contest 144 Assembly and 17 Lok Sabha seats and Janasena two Lok Sabha and 21 Assembly seats.

Kamineni Srinivas Rao, who worked as the health minister in the erstwhile TDP government, as an NDA partner would fight the election from the Kaikaluru segment. N Eswara Rao would contest from Etcherla, P Vishnu Kumar Raju (Visakhapatnam North), P Rajarao (Araku Valley, ST), and B Roshanna (Badvel, SC). Vishnu Kumar Raju is the BJP state vice president and also a former MLA. Other candidates include former minister C Adinarayana Reddy from Jammalamadugu and P V Parthasarathi from Adoni constituency.

Elections for 175 Assembly and 25 Lok Sabha seats in Andhra Pradesh will be held simultaneously on May 13 and the results will be declared on June 4.

Row over Vijayawada West seat allocation to BJP

In Vijayawada West, Jana Sena leader Pothina Venkata Mahesh sought a ticket as part of their alliance with the BJP and TDP. However, party president Pawan Kalyan left the seat for the BJP. Sources said that Pothina Mahesh was unhappy with the seat allocation to the BJP and is reportedly to contest as an independent candidate from Vijayawada West. Shaik Asif, the front-runner for the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP), would gain from the BJP's choice to take the seat, Pothina Venkata Mahesh told the vernacular media.

Satya Kumar to lock horns with Kethireddy in Dharmavaram

In Dharmavaram, BJP national secretary Y Satya Kumar Yadav would take on the YSRCP candidate Kethireddy Venkatarami Reddy. As part of their alliance, the TDP denied a ticket to the former MLA Gonuguntla Satyanarayana. In the 2019 Assembly elections, Kethireddy defeated Satyanarayana with a majority of 15,666 votes.

While Satya Kumar played a crucial role as he strategized the 'Lotus Bloom' in Kerala in 2019. He also served as personal secretary to the former vice president M Venkaiah Naidu when he was heading BJP.

BJP denied tickets to senior leaders

The BJP leadership had denied tickets to several prominent leaders that included former BJP AP unit president Somu Veerraju, vice president Vishnu Vardhan Reddy and GVL Narasimha Rao. Among them, Narasimha Rao anticipated a ticket to contest from Visakhapatnam Lok Sabha seat. As part of the alliance, the BJP left the ticket to the TDP and M Bharath is contesting as an MP from Visakhapatnam.