BJP hopes to retain Andhra port city seat

While the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) has fielded real estate businessman and film producer MVV Satyanarayana, the Jana Sena contestant is the former Joint Director of Central Bureau of Investigation VV Lakshmi Narayana.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which won the port constituency in 2014, is keen to retain its political identity in Andhra Pradesh. It has fielded Daggubuti Purandareshwari, the daughter of Telugu Desam Party (TDP) founder N T Rama Rao. She represented Visakhapatnam as a Congress parliamentarian from 2009 and 2014.

At the time, the BJP and TDP were in alliance and Hari Babu had won the polls by a margin of over 90,000 votes. (PTI)

This time around, she is taking on her nephew, Bharat, a 29-year-old with an MBA degree from the Stanford University in the US, who is the TDP candidate. A debutant, Bharat’s paternal and maternal grandfathers, late MVVS Murthy and Kavuri Sambasiva Rao respectively, were former MPs. His father-in-law Nandamuri Balakrishna is a film star and a state legislator.

While the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) has fielded real estate businessman and film producer MVV Satyanarayana, the Jana Sena contestant is the former Joint Director of Central Bureau of Investigation VV Lakshmi Narayana. Interestingly, Lakshmi Narayana was a key figure in investigating YSRCP chief Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy’s disproportionate assets and other cases of corruption against him.

Congress has fielded Ramana Kumari Pedada. The Congress has won the Visakhapatnam Lok Sabha seat nine times so far and the TDP has won it thrice, but this time around, the seat is likely to see a tough four cornered contest between BJP, TDP, YSR Congress Party and Jana Sena.

In 2014, the BJP’s K Hari Babu contested against YSRCP leader YS Vijayalakshmi, the wife of former CM YS Rajashekara Reddy.

At the time, the BJP and TDP were in alliance and Hari Babu had won the polls by a margin of over 90,000 votes.

Fishermen, industrial workers and young voters play an influential role in deciding who wins the Kapu-dominated constituency. On Thursday, Andhra Pradesh saw one of the highest voter turnout, with 80 % turnout recorded till 10 pm. YSRCP president Reddy saying that his party would secure a “landslide victory” in the state.