Family Matters: Meet the wives, daughters steering campaign for AP poll candidates

Amaravati: From chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy to TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu, several big heads who are contesting for the Andhra Pradesh Assembly and Parliament elections are backed up with support from their better halves and daughters.

Despite the scorching heat conditions, here are the women taking the lead in campaigning for their family members:

1. YS Bharathi Reddy

YS Bharathi Reddy, wife of Jagan Mohan Reddy, has been campaigning for her husband in the Pulivendula Assembly constituency.

While Jagan is campaigning across the state, Bharati Reddy took up the job to campaign for her husband in Pulivendula. She has been canvassing door-to-door, meeting people and discussing issues of the constituency.

Bharati Reddy also campaigned for her father-in-law, former chief minister Dr YS Rajasekhara Reddy during earlier elections. Bharati Reddy filed the nomination for Jagan in the first set while he was on Memantha Siddham Yatra.

2. Nara Bhuvaneswari

TDP supremo and Kuppam MLA candidate Nara Chandrababu Naidu is backed by his wife Nara Bhuvaneswari campaigning in the Kuppam Assembly constituency.

Naidu’s spouse, who has usually stayed away from politics, came into light when Naidu was arrested on September 9 last year for allegedly misappropriating funds from the Skill Development Corporation when he was the chief minister in 2015 and was kept in Rajahmahendravaram Central Jail for a few weeks.

At that time, she toured several parts of the state under the ‘Nijam Gelavali’ campaign to console families of the ‘people who died’ after hearing the news about Naidu.

During the ensuing poll campaign, Nara Bhuvaneshwari assured the implementation of Chandrababu’s ‘Super 6’ schemes if TDP comes to power.

3. Nara Brahmani

Nara Brahmani, the daughter-in-law of Chandrababu Naidu and wife of Mangalagiri MLA candidate Nara Lokesh began canvassing for her husband.

Brahmani, the executive director of family-run Heritage Foods Ltd, has been campaigning in the constituency, interacting with the locals. In the 2019 polls, Lokesh was defeated in Mangalagiri by A Ramakrishna Reddy by a margin of over 5,000 votes. Later, Reddy quit the YSRCP. In 2024, Lokesh is set to take on YSRCP’s Murugudu Lavanya.

While on the campaign trail, Brahmani especially interacted with the women voters and spoke on how Lokesh can develop Mangalagiri and how good governance is possible with the leadership of her father-in-law Naidu.

4. Nandamuri Tejaswini

Nandamuri Tejaswini, wife of Visakhapatnam TDP MP candidate M Sribharat, is seen going for constituency visits with her husband. Bharat is contesting against Botcha Jhansi from YSRCP.

This is the second time Sribharat is contesting for the seat. In the 2019 elections, he lost to YSRCP’s MVV Satyanarayana by over 4,400 votes. Tejaswini is the younger daughter of Nandamuri Balakrishna. She also campaigned for Nara Lokesh during the Yuva Galam pada yatra.

Apart from campaigning separately and meeting women voters in person, Tejaswini has been going for morning walks with her husband as a part of the election campaign.

5. Nandamuri Vasundhara Devi

Hindupur sitting TDP MLA and actor Balkrishna’s wife Vasundhara Devi attended roadshows to seek votes for her husband.

Balakrishna is eyeing to become an MLA for the third consecutive time and has also stayed away from his film shootings aiming for the hattrick. For this elections, YSRCP is fielding TN Deepika in Hindupur against Balakrishna with a focus on caste relations.

6. Kesineni family

YSRCP Vijayawada MP candidate Kesineni Nani’s daughter Kesineni Swetha is campaigning for her father.

Swetha who represented Ward 11 in the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) from the TDP resigned her post soon after her father quit the party and joined YSRCP in January. Nani has tough competition from his brother Kesineni Chinni contesting as an MP from the TDP for the 2024 elections. Kesineni Nani won as an MP from Vijayawada in the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections on behalf of the TDP.

Swetha was seen visiting constituencies and speaking about the developments her father initiated.