Raghu Ramakrishnam Raju missing in BJP list of 6 MP contestants in AP; Jana Sena names 18 for Assembly

AMARAVATHI: The BJP announced six MP candidates from Andhra Pradesh and the Jana Sena announced 18 Assembly candidates out of the 21 seats given it to it in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

The controversial former MP Raghu Ramakrishnam Raju who soon after elections turned against the YSRCP and trained his guns at its supremo YS Jagan Mohan Reddy did not get the ticket from his native Narsapuram Lok Sabha seat.

An enraged Raghu Ramakrishnam Raju alleged that Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, through former BJP state president Somu Veerraju, influenced the BJP leadership not to give him the ticket. Raju, a controversial MP, claimed in a video released, that he had expected this situation.

He is unlikely to be fielded by any party even from any of the Assembly seats. The TDP, on its part, is running its behind-the-scene politics which may sabotage the chances of the BJP and at some places the Jana Sena candidates in the Assembly elections.

The BJP was given 10 Assembly seats and the Jana Sena 21. Similarly, the BJP got six and the Jana Sena two out of the 25 leaving the TDP with 17 Lok Sabha seats to contest.

But the fissures among the alliance partners are louder than expected. Most of the TDP cadres did not like the arrangement with the NDA. The BJP leaders internally are seething with anger over the TDP’s encouragement of its rebels to enter the fray to vitiate the prospects of the officials nominees of the NDA.

In fact, Chandrababu Naidu on Saturday at a strategy meeting of the TDP leaders and workers from the Assembly constituencies said that the poll alliance was temporary.