Telugu Desam Party released the third list of the candidates for eleven Assembly segments and Thirteen Parliament segments. With this, only five assembly segments and four MP segments are to be announced.
This is the first list of MP candidates. Chandrababu Naidu finally clarified about the very important Vishakapatnam Parliament segment which has become a point of discussion since the alliance with BJP was announced.
BJP Senior leader GVL Narasimha Rao camped in Vizag for the last couple of years and is self-promoting himself with the funds of central agencies.
Balakrishna’s SIL Bharath contested here in the 2019 election and lost by a slender margin due to cross-voting for JD Lakshminarayana from Janasena. This is a sure-shot seat for Bharath but GVL worried the TDP cadre.
Besides GVL, the BJP has more reasons to ask for the Vishakapatnam Parliament. The segment has around two Lakh voters of Odisha and North India and they are more likely to vote for BJP. Also, Vishakapatnam is one seat BJP always fared well.
In 2014, Haribabu contested on the BJP ticket here (TDP – BJP alliance) and emerged as a Giantkiller defeating Jagan’s mother, Vijaya Lakshmi.
BJP High Command insisted on Vishakapatnam Parliament but Chandrababu was adamant.
GVL Narasimha Rao was often seen as Pro-YSR Congress and was instrumental in the breakup of the TDP and BJP alliance in 2014.
Vishakapatnam was proposed as the Executive Capital by Jagan Mohan Reddy. TDP believes it is important to have the seat in its fold.
YSR Congress or its coverts winning from there is out of the equation.
Moreover, GVL is sure to lose from Vizag because TDP voters will not vote for him. So, Chandrababu was keen on Vizag and finally got it.
