VIJAYAWADA: Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) president YS Sharmila Reddy is likely to contest the Kadapa Lok Sabha seat in the coming elections. It has been learnt that the party high command wants Sharmila to contest the MP seat in the YSRC’s bastion. Currently, Sharmila’s cousin brother YS Avinash Reddy is the sitting Kadapa MP.
While the TDP-JSP-BJP alliance has intensified efforts to wrest the segment from the YSRC, it is yet to announce its candidate. On the other hand, the YSRC will repeat Avinash Reddy.
The TDP had earlier considered politburo member R Srinivasulu Reddy for the MP seat. However, with Srinivasulu Reddy’s wife Madhavi Reddy contesting the Kadapa Assembly constituency, the yellow party has now dropped the idea in line with its policy of one ticket for one family.
The names of Srinivasulu Reddy’s brother Ramesh Kumar Reddy, who was denied a Rayachoti Assembly ticket, and former MLA G Veerasiva Reddy are also doing the rounds.
Veerasiva is a three-time MLA from Kamalapur. He shot to fame when he defeated former home minister and Kadapa strongman MV Mysura Reddy in the 1994 elections.
It has also been learnt that the TDP had sent feelers to the BJP, asking it to field a candidate from the Kadapa Lok Sabha constituency instead of seeking tickets for Badvel and Jammalamadugu Assembly seats. The TDP reportedly told the BJP that it would extend full cooperation to the BJP if former minister and senior party leader C Adinarayana Reddy contests the segment.
The TDP is of the view that it has a good chance of winning if family members of slain former minister YS Vivekananda Reddy campaign against Avinash Reddy and the YSRC.