Jana Sena off the blocks; Pawan Kalyan says list of LS candidates ready

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 Chandrasekhar 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 LS seat.

For the TD, minister Nara Lokesh officially announced the names of S.V. Mohan Reddy to contest the Kurnool Assembly seat and Butta Renuka for the Kurnool Lok Sabha seat.

These names were announced last July and did not go down well with party MP T.G. Venkatesh as Mr Mohan Reddy was elected on YSRC ticket.

The YSRC has also named just two nominees.