Stripped of the Minister’s post during the Cabinet revamp, senior YSR Congress Party leader Balineni Srinivasa Reddy fears that he may be denied the party ticket to contest the next Assembly elections in 2024.
The five-time MLA from Ongole said during a party meeting here recently that Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy might prefer to field a woman candidate next time.
The YSRCP Regional Coordinator for the districts of Nellore, Prakasam and Bapatla has been sulking since missing a Cabinet berth when the Chief Minister decided to induct many new members into his Council of Ministers half way through the five-year term.
It may be noted that in a party survey undertaken in the wake of the party’s ‘Gadapa, Gadapaku Mana Prabuthvam‘ programme, the performance of Mr. Srinivasa Reddy, who had handled several key portfolios including Mines, Energy, and Handlooms and Textiles in the Cabinets of both Jagan Mohan Reddy and the late Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy in undivided Andhra Pradesh, was found unsatisfactory.
Mr. Srinivasa Reddy, according to sources close to the leader, is also considering opting out of the poll race and promoting the candidature of his son Praneeth Reddy in the next polls.
Mr. Srinivasa Reddy, during the party meeting, urged the cadre to work unitedly to ensure the victory of the party Kondepi in-charge Varikoti Ashok Babu, in the coming polls. He had failed to get the party ticket in 2019 as the party preferred Dr. M. Venkaiah to contest the seat reserved for the Scheduled Castes.
Statue unveiled
Meanwhile, Mr. Srinivasa Reddy unveiled the statue of Potti Sriramulu in the city along with former Mines Minister Sidda Raghava Rao and exhorted the youth to take inspiration from the life of ‘Amarajeevi’, who had made the supreme sacrifice which paved the way for creation of new States on linguistic basis.
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