TDPJSPBJP alliance yet to name Bheemunipatnam Assembly candidate
Despite the announcement of candidates for almost all the Assembly constituency seats for the coming elections, the TDPJSPBJP alliance is yet to announce candidate for the Bheemunipatnam Assembly constituency, which has the highest number of voters (about 3.56 lakh, including 1.74 lakh men and 1.81 lakh women). There are speculations about the candidate and the names of Ganta Srinivasa Rao, the present Visakhapatnam MP candidate M Sribharat, JSP city president Vamsi Krishna Srinivasa Yadav, TDP leader Korada Raja Babu and a few others are doing rounds. The delay is causing confusion in the activists of the parties.
Mr. Ganta Srinivasa Rao used to be the first choice for the Bheemunipatnam ticket. However he was asked to contest from Cheepurupalli against the Education Minister Botcha Satyanarayana. However, Mr. Srinivasa Rao expressed his disinterest to do so.
Some of the surveys conducted by the TDP reportedly favoured Mr Srinivasa Rao as candidate from Bheemunipatnam. Mr. Srinivasa Rao worked as the Bheemunipatnam MLA (TDP) during the 201419 term from the TDP. If his ticket is confirmed by the party, this will be for the first time, Mr. Srinivasa Rao will be contesting from a single constituency twice. Since the last two decades, Mr Srinivasa Rao had won at Anakapalli Assembly Constituency and Lok Sabha, Chodavaram, Bheemunipatnam and Visakhapatnam North Assembly constituencies.
Meanwhile, Jana Sena Party (JSP) cadre from Bheemunipatnam seek the ticket for the party constituency incharge Panchakarla Sandeep.
The JSP cadre and close supporters of Mr. Sandeep term the former Visakhapatnam North MLA Ganta Srinivasa Rao, as a nonlocal. “The senior TDP leader changes his constituencies every election. But Mr. Sandeep has been working for a long time in this constituency. He has raised his voice against the atrocities of the YSRCP government in the last five years on behalf of the JSP. He played a pivotal role in highlighting the issues like constructions at Erra Matti Dibbalu and others,” said several JSP activists.
However, the YSRCP cadre says that it is not easy to take on the sitting MLA and former Tourism Minister Muttamsetti Srinivasa Rao, who was again given the ticket in the coming elections. Mr Srinivasa Rao enjoys a large support from the numerically strong Kapus and Yadavas in the constituency.