Former TDP leader Sujana Chowdary from Vijayawada West on BJP ticket; 9 others too named

AMARAVATHI: Former Union Minister from TDP and former BJP Rajya Sabha member Y S Chowdary also known as Sujana Chowdary was fielded as a candidate by the BJP from Vijayawada West Assembly seat along with nine other candidates from different seats for the AP Assembly elections as part of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

The BJP had entered electoral alliance with the Telugu Desam Party and Jana Sena for the upcoming general elections.

Interestingly, the BJP fielded its Rajya Sabha member CM Ramesh, who had also drifted away into the party along with Chowdary and two others from the TDP in June 2019.

The others fielded by the BJP included: N Eswara Rao (Etcherla); former BJP MLA P Vishnu Kumar Raju (Visakhapatnam North); Pangi Raja Rao (Araku - ST); M Shiva Krishnam Raju (Anaparthi); former BJP Minister Kamineni Srinivas (Kaikaluru); Bojja Roshanna (Badvel -SC); former minister C Adinrayana Reddy (Jammalamadugu); Dr P V Parthasarathi (Adoni); and Y Satya Kumar (Dharmavaram).

While Adnirayana Reddy moved after being elected on the YSR Congress ticket and joined the TDP and a became a minister in the Chandrababu Naidu Cabinet, Kamineni Srinivas too was closely associated with Naidu even though he was inducted into the Cabinet between 2014-19 as a BJP MLA as part of the NDA arrangement.

Y Satya Kumar, who worked with former Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu, had faced stiff opposition from the cadres of the BJP in Dharmavaram constituency. For now, the BJP settled for the 10 seats offered by the TDP.

However, grapevine has it that it’s insisting on another seat too, though there is no confirmation on it. Similarly, the BJP is said to be pressing for two more Lok Sabha seats.

The political dynamics need to be observed within the NDA, as there was still a lot of time for filing of nominations.

Meanwhile, the TDP changed its candidate from P Gannavaram SC constituency and allotted it to Jana Sena.

The YSR Congress which had kept the Anakapalle Lok Sabha seat in abeyance until the BJP fielded its candidate. After CM Ramesh was named, the YSRCP pitted Deputy Chief Minister Budi Mutyala Naidu from Anakapalle.