Telugu Desam Party on Thursday released its second list of 34 candidates for the upcoming assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh, taking the total number of TDP candidates announced so far to 128 seats.
In the 175-member state assembly, the TDP is contesting in 144 seats, leaving the remaining 31 seats with its alliance partners Jana Sena Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The Jana Sena will contest in 21 assembly seats and the BJP in 10 seats.
On Februray 24, the TDP released its first list with 94 candidates along with Jana Sena which announced five names. After the second list, the TDP is yet to announce names of another 16 candidates.
Prominent among those who got the TDP tickets in the second list include former minister Gorantla Buchaiah Chowdary for Rajahmundry (rural), Chintamaneni Prabhakar for Denduluru, Pulivarthi Nani for Chandragiri, Challa Ramachandra Reddy for Punganuru, Bojjala Venkata Sudhir Reddy for Sri Kalahasti, N Varadarajulu Reddy for Proddaturu, Yarapathineni Srinivas Rao for Gurajala and Palla Srinivasa Rao for Gajuwaka.
Vemireddy Prashanti, who defected from YSR Congress party along with her husband and Rajya Sabha member Vemireddy Prabhakar Reddy, has been given the TDP ticket from Kovvur assembly constituency.
{{/usCountry}}Vemireddy Prashanti, who defected from YSR Congress party along with her husband and Rajya Sabha member Vemireddy Prabhakar Reddy, has been given the TDP ticket from Kovvur assembly constituency.
{{/usCountry}}Former minister Anam Ramnarayana Reddy, who was till recently representing Venkatagiri assembly constituency on YSRCP ticket, has been given his original seat of Atmakuru.
Similarly, Palle Sindhura Reddy has been given the party ticket from Puttaparthi in place of her father-in-law Palle Raghunath Reddy. From Satyaveedu constituency, Naidu gave the party ticket to sitting MLA Koneti Adimulam, who defected from the YSRCP.
In all, seven women were given the TDP tickets out of 34 candidates whose names were released on Thursday.
Tweeting the list, TDP chief and former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu said the selection of candidates was done after conducting intense surveys and gathering public opinion. He urged the people to bless all TDP candidates in the upcoming elections.
He said that the candidate list includes leaders from diverse educational backgrounds such as one person having a Ph D, while there are 11 post-graduates and nine graduates.
Meanwhile, Pawan Kalyan announced at a party meeting in Mangalagiri in Guntur district that he would contest the assembly elections from Pithapuram constituency in Kakinada district. He said he had not taken any decision yet on contesting the Lok Sabha elections.
After announcing the first list on February 24, the Jana Sena Party chief gave the clearance to Kandula Duresh from Nidadavolu constituency.
Though he did not announce the second list yet, a party leader familiar with the development said that Pawan Kalyan had cleared the candidatures of Panchakarla Ramesh from Pendurty, S Vijay Kumar from Yelamanchili, Vamsi Krishna Yadav from Visakhapatnam (south), Bolishetty Srinivas from Tadepalligudem, P Dharma Raju from Unguturu, Bommidi Nayakar from Narasapuram and Pulaparthi Ramanjaneyulu from Bhimavaram.
Meanwhile, the BJP is yet to announce the seats allotted to it and the candidates who would be contesting. However, a TDP leader familiar with the development said the BJP was allotted Visakhapatnam (north), Srikakulam, Paderu, Anaparthi, Kaikaluru, Vijayawada (west), Badvel, Jammalamadugu, Dharmavaram and Adoni seats.