VIJAYAWADA: The TDP on Friday announced candidates for 13 of the 17 Lok Sabha constituencies it will be contesting in the ensuing elections. Additionally, the party also nominated candidates for 11 Assembly seats. So far, the TDP, which will contest the polls in an alliance with the Jana Sena and the BJP, has announced contestants for 139 MLA segments.
Andhra Pradesh has a total of 175 Assembly and 25 Lok Sabha constituencies.
The party has fielded Kesineni Sivanath (Chinni) against his brother and YSRC leader Kesineni Srinivas (Nani) in Vijayawada Lok Sabha segment. Two leaders who had resigned from the ruling YSRC and joined the yellow party were also given tickets. Narasaraopeta MP Lavu Sri Krishna Devarayulu has been fielded from the same constituency, while V Prabhakar Reddy, a Rajya Sabha member, will contest from Nellore.
While senior TDP leader Somireddy Chandramohan Reddy has been nominated for the Sarvepalli Assembly constituency, other senior leaders, including K Kala Venkata Rao, Ganta Srinivasa Rao and Devineni Uma Maheswara Rao, could not find place in the third list as well. TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu posted the list of candidates on social media platform X.
TDP yet to name candidates for Alur, Bheemili, Cheepurupalli, Etcherla
Additionally, the TDP has nominated Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu for Srikakulam, Mathkumilli Bharath for Visakhapatnam, Ganti Harish Madhur for Amalapuram, Putta Mahesh Yadav for Eluru, Pemmasani Chandrasekhar for Guntur, T Krishna Prasad for Bapatla, Daggumalla Prasad Rao for Chittoor, Balusupati Nagaraju (Panchalingala Nagaraju) for Kurnool, Byreddy Shabari for Nandyal, and BK Parthasarathi for Hindupur Lok Sabha segment.
He reiterated that the candidates have been finalised as per the people’s choice.
The third list for the MLA candidates evoked mixed response from TDP leaders. While followers of Bode Prasad, who got a ticket from Penamaluru of combinedKrishna district, celebrated the announcement, Srikakulam former MLA Gunda Lakshmi Devi’s supporters were unhappy with Naidu and TDP for choosing Gondu Shankar.
The TDP is yet to finalise candidates for Bheemili, Cheepurupalli, Etcherla and Alur Assembly constituencies. While former minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao had expressed interest in contesting from Bheemili, Naidu had suggested him to contest from Cheepurupalli against senior YSRC leader and Education Minister Botcha Satyanarayana. Another former minister Kala Venkata Rao has been vying to contest from Etcherla constituency in Srikakulam district, but the party is yet to announce the candidate for the segment.
Naidu also chose to field Vasantha Krishna Prasad, who recently joined the TDP from the YSRC, from Mylavaram instead of former minister Devineni Umamaheswara Rao.
Former IPS officer fielded from Bapatla LS seat
Among the 13 candidates announced for the Lok Sabha segments, the TDP supremo has chosen Telangana cadre IPS officer Teneti Krishna Prasad for Bapatla MP seat. Post retirement as DGP, Krishna Prasad joined the BJP. Although he did not join the TDP, Naidu has picked him to take on YSRC candidate Nandigam Suresh. Born in Hyderabad in 1960, Krishna Prasad pursued his education in NIT Warangal and IIM Ahmedabad. He worked as Guntur district SP and Vijayawada Commissioner of Police. He had also reportedly expected a ticket from the BJP to contest from the Warangal Lok Sabha segment.
