Lokesh among 17 ministers who bit the dust in Jagan wave in AP

Sons of Paritala Sunitha (Women and Child Welfare) and KE Krishna Murthy (Revenue), Paritala Sriram and KE Shyam Kumar, also failed to make it to the Assembly.  
Nara Lokesh. (Photo | PTI)
Nara Lokesh. (Photo | PTI)

VIJAYAWADA: The Chandrababu Naidu-led Telugu Desam Party suffered a humiliating defeat in the polls with 17 of its 21 outgoing ministers, up for re-election, losing to their YSRC opponents. Interestingly, scions of two ministers, who tried their luck from parents’ constituencies, too lost the poll battle. 

Even though most of the ministers exuded confidence that they would emerge victorious till Wednesday, Thursday’s results showed that only the likes of TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu, N China Rajappa (Home), K Atchannaidu (Transport) and Ganta Srinivasa Rao (Human Resource Development) were able to retain their seats. 

In fact, Devineni Umamaheswara Rao (Water Resources) had claimed that he would win from Mylavaram once again and mocked YS Jagan Mohan Reddy saying that the YSRC chief was hallucinating of becoming the Chief Minister. However, he failed to make it to the winners’ list. 

Other senior ministers Ch Ayyanna  Patrudu (Roads and Buildings), P Narayana (Municipal), Prathipati Pulla Rao (Civil Supplies), Nara Lokesh (IT), Kimidi Kala Venkat Rao (Energy), R Sujaya Krishna Ranga Rao (Mines), Pithani Satyanarayana (Labour), Nakka Anand Babu (Social Welfare), Somireddy Chandramohan Reddy (Agriculture), Bhuma Akhila Priya (Tourism), Kalava Srinivasulu (Information and Public Relations), N Amarnath Reddy (Industries) and KS Jawahar (Excise) lost the poll battle to YSRC candidates. Incidentally, it was the first electoral  battle for Narayana and Lokesh. They served as ministers after being directly nominated MLCs. 

Sidda Raghava Rao (Forest) and C Adi Narayana Reddy (Cooperation), who contested from Ongole and Kadapa parliamentary segments, also faced a drubbing. Sidda, who earlier won as an MLA from Darsi, was asked to fight the Lok Sabha elections against his wishes. Adi Narayana Reddy won as an MLA on YSRC ticket in 2014 and later defected to the ruling TDP.

Kidari Sravan Kumar, who served as the Minister for Health after the TDP leadership picked him in the aftermath of his father Kidari Sarveswara Rao’s killing, also conceded defeat to YSRC’s Chetti Palguna in Araku Valley constituency. He had resigned recently as he could not get elected to either Assembly or Council within six months of being inducted into the Cabinet.

Sons of Paritala Sunitha (Women and Child Welfare) and KE Krishna Murthy (Revenue), Paritala Sriram and KE Shyam Kumar, also failed to make it to the Assembly.  

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