India
Family fortresses and a family drama, it's all in the family in Andhra Pradesh.
Updated : May 22, 2019, 07:25 PM IST
Andhra Pradesh is among the states that had simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and the state Assembly. The state is seeing the YSR Congress making a strong bid to wrest the state from the ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP).
The political field has further been fractured by the Jana Sena Party (JSP) bof actor-turned-politician Pawan Kalyan. The Congress has been reduced to a shadow of its former self and the BJP hardly has a presence. Both the national parties have been unable to form an alliance with either the TDP or the YSRCP.
The results of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in Andhra Pradesh will hold crucial importance if no party or alliance is able to secure a simple majority. That's because the support of both the TDP and the YSRCP would be courted by all players hoping to form the government.
Here are some of the constituencies to watch in Andhra Pradesh:
This is the permanent address and the near-permanent seat of the family of late Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Rajasekhar Reddy (YSR). The seat has been held by YSR's family since 1989. In the fray this time for the YSRCP is YS Avinash Reddy, cousin of party chief YS Jagan Mohan Reddy. Avinash had won here in 2014 and was among the YSRCP lawmakers who quit Parliament in June 2018 to protest the failure to give special economic status to Andhra Pradesh. Kadapa also contains the Pulivendula Assembly constituency, from where Jagan is making his chief ministerial bid. Contesting against Avinash are TDP's Adinarayana Reddy and JSP's Arigella Chinnagari Vinay Kumar.
If Indian politics loves a good family drama, it doesn't get juicier than Visakhapatnam. Two prominent faces of a prominent family are fighting elections in this urban region, going head to head in the Lok Sabha contest.
The TDP candidate here is MV Sai Bharat, son-in-law of actor-politician N Balakrishna, who is the son of former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister NT Rama Rao. Going up against him on a BJP ticket is his aunt-in-law and former Union Minister of State Daggubati Purandeshwari, the daughter of NT Rama Rao. Purandeshwari quit the Congress just before the 2014 elections and joined the BJP.
The constituency also holds great importance for the JSP. The party has fielded retired IAS officer VV Lakshminarayana. The Gajuwaka Assembly constituency, where party chief Pawan Kalyan is making his bid, falls under this Lok Sabha constituency.
Ashok Gajapati Raju Pusapati, who served as a minister in the Modi cabinet till he stepped down, is the TDP candidate here and is looking to return to the Lok Sabha. A member of the erstwhile royal family of the princely state of Vizianagaram, he had won the Assembly seat here six times. Contesting against him are Bellana Chandra Sekhar of the YSRCP, Adiraju Yedla of the Congress and Mukka Srinivas Rao of the JSP.