Visakhapatnam Lok Sabha constituency, the biggest in the State, has been favourable to non-local candidates in the past.
In 2014, a Modi-TDP wave, aided by the endorsement of actor Pawan Kalyan’s newly-formed Jana Sena Party, resulted in an impressive victory for incumbent BJP MP K. Haribabu, who lives here. However, his nearest rival was Y.S. Vijayamma, the then honorary president of YSRCP who hails from Kadapa.
The current election promises to be a rare four-cornered fight between the TDP, BJP, YSRCP and the JSP.
Though the TDP, YSRCP and JSP have fielded candidates who are relatively new to politics, a strong contest is on the cards as all candidates are prominent in their own way.
TDP bets on legacy
Stanford-educated M. Sri Bharat seeks to inherit the political legacy of his grandfather M.V.V.S. Murthi, who was elected as MP from Visakhapatnam twice and was a leading TDP leader right from the party’s inception. With an outsider’s perspective on politics, he injects a dose of joie de vivre to the contest in a constituency that is being aggressively promoted as an IT destination and a tourism hub. Senior leaders contesting in all the Assembly constituencies should stand Mr. Bharat in good stead.
JSP springs a surprise
Jana Sena Party sprang a surprise by announcing the nomination of former CBI Joint Director V.V. Lakshminarayana, a rank outsider to politics in general and the constituency in particular. Mr. Lakshminarayana asserts that he would continue to live in Visakhapatnam even after the election were over. With the issue of corruption in public life taking centre stage, the man who helmed the CBI investigation into allegations of financial wrongdoings against YSRCP president Jaganmohan Reddy adds a new dimension to an already-tense contest.
BJP fields familiar face
With incumbent MP Mr. Haribabu ‘opting out’ of the race this time, the BJP roped in former Union Minister D. Purandeswari, who had successfully contested in 2009. She is banking on development done during her stint as MP and is campaigning on the back of welfare schemes launched by the Central government, but faces a tough challenge under an anti-BJP onslaught by the TDP.
Ms. Purandeswari lists the airport getting international status and night-landing facilities, justice to people displaced by the Visakhapatnam Port and the merger of BHPV-BHEL among her achievements.
YSRCP goes local
YSRCP, meanwhile, has fielded builder M.V.V. Satyanarayana as its MP nominee. Mr. Satyanarayana, the party’s Lok Sabha coordinator for the past few months and also a film producer, is testing the political waters for the first time, much like his TDP and JSP counterparts. Several Assembly coordinators appointed by YSRCP have been retained as Assembly nominees, giving Mr. Satyanarayana an organisational advantage.
Congress faces revolt
Congress named its State Women’s Wing president P. Ramani Kumari as LS nominee, much to the disappointment of its trade union wing INTUC. Ms. Ramani Kumari is banking Rahul Gandhi’s assurance on SCS.
