Former Chief Minister and presently BJP’s leader N Kiran Kumar Reddy attempts to contest from Rajampet Lok Sabha constituency is said to be blocked by his own younger brother N Kishore Kumar Reddy, who is contesting as TDP candidate from their native Pileru assembly constituency.
Though BJP is insisting for Rajampet Lok Sabha seat, as part of seat sharing with TDP, it was Kishor’s opposition making TDP supreme Chandrababu Naidu helpless to give his nod.
According to sources Chandrababu Naidu is convinced with the arguments put-forward by Kishor Kumar Reddy, opposing his elder brother contesting from Rajampet as BJP candidate. It was mainly due to the presence of a large number of Muslim voters in this constituency.
There are also a significant number of Muslim population in Peeleru constituency. It is learned that Kishore is worried if BJP contests from this Lok Sabha or any assembly segment in this area that will antagonize Muslim voters in total.
Already several TDP leaders are expressing apprehensions that alliance with BJP may put their party in defence in segments where Muslims voters are in significant numbers. According to an estimation, in about 40 assembly segments Muslims voters can influence poll results.
TDP leaders are fearing that BJP candidate in Rajahmundry will antagonize Muslims, who are in large numbers in Punganur, Pileru, Madanapalle and Thamballapalle assembly segments, which are part of Rajampet Lok Sabha constituency.
Though a large number of Muslims voted YSRCP in 2019 polls, now they have developed a grudge against chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy and TDP leaders are hoping a large number of them will turn towards TDP this time.
TDP sources indicated that Chandrababu Naidu has suggested an alternate constituency for Kiran Kumar Reddy to contest in the elections. He suggested Rajahmundry would be suitable for him. Though Kiran Kumar Reddy is keen to contest from Rajampet, Naidu assured BJP leaders that he will personally convince Reddy in this regard.
However, BJP leadership is proposing to field state BJP President D Purandeswari from Rajahmundry Lok Sabha constituency. Though TDP suggested her to contest from Eluru, she seems to be not ready for it as there is no history of BJP winning from Eluru. BJP candidates had won from Rajahmundry earlier twice in 1998 and 1998.
Nitin Gadkari, Piyush Goyal, DK Aruna in BJP’s second list
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday released its second list of 72 candidates for Lok Sabha elections. The saffron party has fielded Union Ministers Nitin Gadkari from Nagpur, Piyush Goyal from Mumbai North, former Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar from Karnal among others.
The second list includes six seats in Telangana. The party had already announced candidates for nine out of the total 17 seats and two more seats have to be announced. Only Khammam and Warangal candidates have to be finalised.
The party has fielded party national vice president DK Aruna from Mahabubnagar, Ex MLA M Raghunandan Rao from Medak , Azmeera Sitaram Naik from Mahabubabad, Shanampudi Saidireddy from Nalgonda, G Nagesh from Adilabad and Gomasa Srinivas from Peddapalli. Among them, Sitaram Naik, Saidireddy and Nagesh joined BJP from BRS only two days ago.
As expected, Adilabad sitting MP Soyam Bapu Rao was replaced by former BRS MP Nagesh. Surprisingly the Khammam seat also has been kept on hold though it is learnt that the party leadership has reportedly cleared the name of former MLA Jalagam Venkat Rao. Sources said the Warangal seat was kept on hold as the party was negotiating with former BRS MLA Aroori Ramesh. Former DGP T Krishna Prasad is in the race for the Warangal ticket.
Some of the prominent candidates include: Nitin Gadkari from Nagpur (Maharashtra), Piyush Goyal from Mumbai North, Harsh Malhotra from East Delhi, Rao Inderjit Singh from Gurgaon, former Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai from Haveri, Pankaja Munde from Beed, Anil Baluni from Garhwal, former Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat from Hardwar, and Tejasvi Surya from Bangalore South.
Union Ministers Pralhad Joshi from Dhawad, Anurag Singh Thakur from Hamirpur, and Shobha Karandlaje from Bangalore North are also in the list. In Maharashtra, 20 candidates have been announced, giving a clear message that seat-sharing differences have been settled in Mahayuti.
The party had released its first list of 195 candidates across 16 states and Union Territories on March 2. In its second list, the BJP has fielded candidates from Maharashtra, Karnataka, Uttarakhand, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Tripura, Telangana, Delhi, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh.
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