Jana Sena turns saviour for leaders denied tickets by TDP, YSRCP

Amaravati: As the 2024 elections become interesting with the TDP-JSP-BJP alliance fighting against YSRCP, the Jana Sena party has become a saviour for leaders denied ticket by Nara Chandrababu Naidu and YS Jagan Mohan Reddy.

Seat sharing arrangement

The TDP will field candidates in 17 Parliamentary and 144 Assembly constituencies, Jana Sena will contest in two LS and 21 LA seats, and the BJP will contest six Lok Sabha (LS) and 10 Legislative Assembly (LA) seats. The parties have announced candidates for all the constituencies.

Buddha Prasad from TDP joins JSP

Two leaders, former Andhra Pradesh minister and former deputy speaker Mandali Buddha Prasad, joined JSP in the presence of party leader and actor Pawan Kalyan at Pithapuram in Kakinada district on April 1, along with TDP leader Nimmaka Jayakrishna.

While Buddha Prasad is given MLA candidature from Avanigadda, Jayakrishna will contest from Palakonda. Avanigadda being one of the seats allotted to Jana Sena, the TDP leaders demanded that Buddha Prasad be fielded, so he shifted to Jana Sena with a nod from Naidu.

Buddha Prasad, elected from Avanigadda in 1999 and 2004, served as a minister in the YS Rajasekhara Reddy cabinet in the combined Andhra Pradesh. He also served as the chairman of the AP Official Language Commission. He quit the Congress in protest against the bifurcation of the state in 2014 and joined the TDP. After his election from Avanigadda for a third term in 2014, he was elected deputy speaker of the Andhra Pradesh Assembly. In 2019, he lost the election to YSRCP’s S Ramesh Babu.

Nimmaka Jayakrishna

TDP leaders who shifted to Jana Sena were given the Palakonda constituency seat for the 2024 elections. In 2014 and 2019, N Jayakrishna lost to YSRCP’s Viswasarayi Kalavathi in Palakonda.

Jana Sena, a part of the BJP-led NDA, announced an alliance with the TDP in September last year. The BJP and the TDP go way back. The TDP joined NDA in 1996 and has worked successfully in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Narendra Modi governments.

In 2014, the TDP and the BJP fought the Lok Sabha and State Assembly elections together. The JSP had supported them in the 2014 General and State Assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh.

Konthala Ramakrishna to contest from Anakapalli

Senior leader Konthala Ramakrishna who joined JSP recently will be contesting from the Anakapalli constituency. While there have been issues with the TDP leaders because of the Anakapalli ticket being given to JSP, Pawan Kalyan has fielded Ramakrishna for this constituency.

Anakapalli is a constituency dominated by Kapus and Gavaras. Ramakrishna will fight against YSRCP's Malasala Bharat. While Bharat belongs to the Kapu community, Ramakrishna belongs to the Gavara community.

Ramakrishna was a minister for commercial tax in late YSR Rajasekhara Reddy’s Cabinet from 2004 to 2009 and is said to have a strong grip over the constituency. He lost in the 2009 elections from Congress and shifted to YSRCP after YS Jagan Mohan Reddy launched the party. Although speculations claimed he would contest from Congress, he joined the JSP.

Puliparthy Anjaneyulu from Bhimavaram

A senior TDP leader and former Bhimavaram MLA, Pulaparthi Anjaneyulu, who joined the Jana Sena Party, was given a Bhimavaram Assembly ticket.

Two leaders denied ticket in YSRCP find JSP

Chittoor MLA Arani Srinivasulu, denied a ticket by the YSRCP, joined Jana Sena and was given the Tirupati Assembly ticket. Srinivasulu has been unhappy with the YSRCP leadership ever since the party appointed Vijayanand Reddy as the Chittoor constituency in-charge for the upcoming 2024 general elections to the AP Assembly. He was suspended after he met Pawan Kalyan in Hyderabad.

Pawan Kalyan knew Srinivasulu from the days of his association with the Praja Rajyam Party. Chennuboina Srinivasa Rao, also known as Vamsi Krishna Yadav, who quit as the YSRCP MLC from Visakhapatnam Local Authorities constituency and joined JSP, got the Vizag South ticket.

Vamsi Krishna was the former Visakha City YSRCP president and contested twice from Visakha East and lost to TDP candidate Velagapudi Ramakrishna Babu. He was denied the party ticket in 2019, and the YSRCP fielded Akkaramani Vijaya Nirmala from Vizag East. He was also not given the mayoral ticket during the GVMC elections.

Vamsi belongs to the Yadava community, one of the dominant communities in the Visakhapatnam Parliamentary constituency.

Vamsi Krishna Yadav was associated with Pawan Kalyan in 2009 when he was an upcoming leader in Yuva Rajyam, the youth wing of the erstwhile Praja Rajyam Party (PRP) founded by Pawan Kalyan’s elder brother and actor K Chiranjeevi.