YSRC May Field Krishnadas from Srikakulam LS Seat

VISAKHAPATNAM: YSRC is planning to field former deputy chief minister and Narasannapeta MLA Dharmana Krishnadas from Srikakulam Lok Sabha constituency, which has been a bastion of the Telugu Desam Party.

TD has won from this constituency seven times, with the young Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu winning the seat in a row – in 2014 and 2019.

YSRC had fielded Reddy Shanti in 2014 and Duvvada Srinivas in 2019 from Srikakulam parliament seat. Both lost miserably. Subsequently, Reddy Shanti became Pathapatnam MLA and Duvvada Srinivas an MLC.

Party observers say it is strange that YSRC has five assembly segments – Srikakulam, Narasannapeta, Amadalavalasa, Palasa and Pathapatnam and yet lost the Lok Sabha seat.

For the 2024 election, YSRC leadership put the burden of winning this LS constituency on three top leaders of the district – Dharmana Krishnadas, his younger brother Dharmana Prasada Rao and speaker Tammineni Sitaram after they decided to vacate their respective seats in favour of their sons.

Tammineni Sitaram and Prasada Rao turned down the offer. But Krishnadas accepted after Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy agreed to nominate former’s son Krishna Chaitanya from his assembly seat,’’ a party source from Srikakulam said. However, family members of Krishnadas are opposing this deal.

A source said it will not be easy to dislodge Kinjarapu family from the Lok Sabha constituency. Yerran Naidu had won the seat four times and became a central minister under the NDA regime, while his son has won twice.

Caste equations also played an important role in the defeat of Reddy Shanti, a Kapu, and Duvvada Srinivas, a Kalinga.

“If Krishnadas is fielded, the contest will be on even keel, as both belong to the same community (Velama),” said a senior party leader from Srikakulam district.

Another senior leader maintained these changes are mere speculation. Actual candidates will be known after the party president completes making changes in the assembly segments, deliberations on which are currently taking place.

“Sitting MPs of Vizianagaram, Anakapalli and Araku are also being shuffled,” the leader added.