Suspense over the candidates for the Anakapalli Lok Sabha constituency continues, as both YSRCP and TDP-JSP-BJP alliance have yet to finalise their candidate’s name.
While YSRCP announced candidates for all 175 Assembly and 24 Lok Sabha segments on March 16, it has not announced its candidate for this constituency.
According to the seat-sharing agreement, BJP will contest six Lok Sabha seats, TDP in 17 seats, and JSP will contest the remaining two seats
Sources revealed on Thursday (March 21) that the YSRCP is keen to field a candidate belonging to the Backward Classes, particularly from the Velama community, as the likely candidate of the opposition BJP is C.M. Ramesh, who belongs to the same community.
“Currently, Deputy Chief Minister Budi Mutyala Naidu and Gandi Babji, the former MLA who recently resigned from TDP and is likely to join the YSRCP, both from the Velama community, are ready to contest here from the YSRCP”Senior YSRCP leader
“The YSRCP plans to look for a Velama candidate as the community is prominent in the region. The second option is a Gavara candidate. However, everything depends on the candidate the alliance parties announce. Currently, Deputy Chief Minister Budi Mutyala Naidu and Gandi Babji, the former MLA who recently resigned from TDP and is likely to join the YSRCP, both from the Velama community, are ready to contest here from the YSRCP,” a senior YSRCP leader told The Hindu.
He added that the YSRCP is not interested in re-nominating sitting MP B.V. Satyavathi, mainly because of the tough competition. Another reason is that the seat, historically, was won by either Congress or TDP until YSRCP won the 2019 elections. While Congress won nine times, TDP has won the seat five times in the past.
Alliance advantage
In 2019, however, YSRCP’s candidate got 5,86,226 votes, while the combined votes of TDP, JSP and BJP were 5,92,898, and TDP alone got 4,97,034 votes.
In the 2014 elections, TDP candidate Muttamsetti Srinivasa Rao won with 5,68,463 votes against YSRCP candidate Gudivada Amarnath, who got 5,20,531 votes.
“In both cases, the alliance parties were on the upper side, and now this gives us the confidence to win this seat,” a senior TDP leader told The Hindu.
The Anakapalli Lok Sabha constituency has about 14 lakh voters, including 6.89 lakh men and 7.1 lakh women. It has seven assembly segments, of which one seat, Payakaraopeta, is reserved for the SC community, while the remaining six are general seats. Along with Payakaraopeta, there are Anakapalli, Chodavaram, Madugula, Pendurthi, Yelamanchili, and Narsipatnam segments.
