Vijayasai of Nellore is named by the YSR Congress

The governing Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP) of Andhra Pradesh declared on Friday night that V Vijayasai Reddy, a member of the Rajya Sabha, will be the MP candidate for the Nellore Lok Sabha constituency in the next general elections.

The move has taken party officials and workers completely by surprise, since Vijayasai has never run in a direct election and has always been an integral member of YS Jagan Mohan Reddy’s core team, which is responsible for choosing the party’s nominees.

According to a senior party official with knowledge of the situation, Vijayasai’s name had not appeared in any surveys carried out by the party or its Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC) political strategy team.

“Despite being from Nellore, Vijayasai has no direct ties to the locals or cadre because he has been a party lobbyist rather than a public figure,” the man said.

The incident points to an odd trend inside the YSRCP, as many MP candidates are showing little interest in running in the next Lok Sabha elections. The party leader cited above said that one of the primary causes is the MP candidates’ uncertainty about winning reelection.

“They haven’t accomplished much for the constituency’s citizens in the past five years, as local MLAs have controlled every aspect of district politics.” He said, “The MPs were compelled to stay only symbolic figures.

Since there were no candidates for the Nellore Lok Sabha constituency, Vijayasai’s name was really elevated. Adala Prabhakar Reddy, the sitting MP, has been moved to the assembly seat in Nellore, a rural area. Vemireddy Prabhakar Reddy, a former businessman turned politician and Rajya Sabha member, was invited to run by Jagan but joined the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in the hopes of having a better chance of winning the seat.

Jagan was also unsuccessful in finding suitable candidates to run in several other parliamentary seats for the Lok Sabha elections. The incumbent Member of Parliament in Visakhapatnam, MV V Satyanarayana, showed no inclination to run for office again in the Lok Sabha. After that, he was moved to the Visakhapatnam (east) assembly seat, and Jagan was compelled to propose Botsa Jhansi, a former Vizianagaram MP, in his stead.

In the Rajahmundry parliamentary seat, incumbent MP Margani Bharat opted to run as an MLA from the Rajahmundry (city) constituency, while current MP Kotagiri Sridhar withdrew from the race in Eluru. For a considerable amount of time, Jagan was unable to identify a suitable candidate to succeed Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy, the current Member of Parliament for Ongole, who seemed unwilling to foot the bill.

Finally, he had to move the current Member of Legislative from Chandragiri in the Chittoor district, Chevireddy Bhaskar Reddy, to the Ongole Lok Sabha seat.

Party surveys in the Narsaraopet parliamentary seat also suggested that the incumbent MP, Lavu Srikrishna Devarayalu, may lose, therefore the chief minister instructed him to relocate to Guntur.

He had to move P Anil Kumar Yadav, the existing MLA from Nellore (rural), to Narsaraopet as a result of refusing the ticket to Devarayalu.

Jagan too had trouble selecting the ideal candidate in Guntur. Even though Ambati Rayudu, an Indian cricket player, was suggested, he left the party two weeks after he joined in January.

Jagan ultimately selected Ponnur Kilaru Rosaiah, a party MLA, to run for the Guntur Lok Sabha seat after searching for a good candidate.

Similar to this, incumbent Member of Parliament Sanjeev Kumar in Kurnool left the party after refusing to run for office.

The leader of the YSRCP requested that Aluru Gummanuru Jayaram, the party’s MLA, run for the Kurnool Lok Sabha seat. Jayaram declined and left the party, most likely to join the TDP.

Jagan had difficulty finding candidates in a number of other Lok Sabha seats, including Anantapur, Hindupur, Araku (ST), Machilipatnam, Kakinada, and Anakapalle. He eventually had to recruit fresh faces or move MLAs to MP seats.

The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), which was recently elected to power in Telangana, is also dealing with a similar circumstance since the current MPs are afraid of losing and are not really interested in running for office.

Pothuganti Ramulu from Achampet and BB Patil from Zaheerabad, two BRS Lok Sabha members, have left the party and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has a higher chance of winning the seats, in the previous two days.

On February 6, Venkatesh Netha, a BRS MP from the Peddapalli parliamentary seat, also quit the party and joined the Congress.

The first person to be formally declared as the BRS candidate again, Chevella MP G Ranjith Reddy, has reportedly said that he has no interest in running in the Lok Sabha elections this year, according to a party leader who wished to remain anonymous.

“It seems that Patnam Mahender Reddy’s decision not to run for office was accelerated by his wife, Sunitha, the chairwoman of the Vikarababad zilla parishad, and other former ministers defecting to the Congress. In addition, the BJP is running a formidable contender in the shape of former MP Konda Vishweshwar Reddy. Thus, the battle will mostly be between the Congress and the BJP, and there is little likelihood that Ranjith Reddy would win the seat, according to the BRS chief.

In a similar vein, Khammam MP Nama Nageswara Rao is said to be reluctant to run for Lok Sabha once again given that the Congress won every assembly seat in the district in the most recent elections.