Rajahmundry: The Jana Sena led by actor-turned-politician Pawan Kalyan has been the first party in the state to finalise its list of contestants for the general election, for which voting will be held on April 11. The ruling Telugu Desam and the Opposition YSR Congress and other parties have yet to name their contestants.
The Jana Sena chief tweeted on Monday, “After a diligent process, the general body of our party has finalised the first list of candidates for 32 Assembly and nine Parliamentary constituencies in the state.” However, only a few names have been announced so far. The rest will be announced at a meeting scheduled to be held on its formation day, on March 14 in Rajahmundry. Mr Pawan Kalyan officially announced the candidature of Pitani Balakrishna to contest from Mummidivaram Assembly segment and issued the B-form last September. Other names of contestants officially announced over a period of time are: Thota Chandra Sekhar from Guntur, Nadendla Manohar from Tenali, Ravela Kishore from Prathipadu, Dr Akula Satyanarayana from Rajahmundry Lok Sabha seat and ONGC Rajahmundry asset former executive director D.M.R. Sekhar from Amalapuram Lok Sabha seat.
For the ruling TD, minister for information technology Nara Lokesh officially announced the names of S.V. Mohan Reddy to contest the Kurnool Assembly seat and Butta Renuka to contest the Lok Sabha seat from Kurnool. These names were announced last July and did not go down well with party MP T.G. Venkatesh as S.V. Mohan Reddy had been a YSR Congress MP from the same segment and had defected to the TD and was now being re-nominated by the TD from the same segment. The YSR Congress has also named just two nominees.
Jana Sena official spokesperson Addepalli Sridhar said, “We are far ahead in announcing the names of nominees officially to contest in the ensuing polls in the state unlike the ruling TD and the Opposition YSR Congress as they have not officially announced the names except for selective leaks and claims by some leaders. This implies that our party chief is clear on his stand to allow those who are committed to serve the society and also having clean image to contest in the polls.”
