Kurnool: All eyes are on Adoni and Alur assembly segments in Kurnool district with the alliance partners of Telugu Desam, Jena Sena and BJP yet to announce their candidates while the ruling YSR Congress has already announced its candidates in both Kurnool and Nandyal districts.
The TD faces a problem in Alur with former minister P. Jayaram, who had sought the party ticket, later changed his mind and wanted to contest for Kurnool Lok Sabha. Subsequently, he left the party and joined the opposition. Meanwhile, sitting MP Dr. S. Sanjiv Kumar also switched his loyalties to the opposition.
Kotla Sujatha, wife of former Union minister and senior TD leader Kotla Jayasurya Prakash Reddy, is also in race for Alur segment. However, the party has already allocated a ticket to Jayasurya Prakash Reddy from Dhone and the party’s policy of giving only one ticket per family may impact Sujatha’s chances.
As a result, B Veerabhadra Gowd is being considered a potential candidate for Alur from the opposition. He contested in the 2014 elections under the TD banner but suffered a defeat with a slight margin. Further, the ruling party appointed ZPTC member B Virupakshi as the constituency in-charge after Jayaram showed disinterest and he began actively participating in the election campaign.
In case of Adoni, Telugu Desam's K Meenakshi Naidu emerged as a strong candidate. He won the polls in 1994, 1999, and 2009 but has faced defeats since 2014 due to the growing influence of the YSR Congress party in the region. Despite his strong candidacy, the TD has not announced his name in its first two lists, leading to speculation that the seat may be offered to alliance members of Jana Sena or BJP.
There are speculations that Adoni may be allocated to BJP, but the party faces a dilemma due to the region's Muslim voter dominance and lack of cadre presence. Even Jana Sena leaders seem to be low on confidence about their prospects in both Kurnool and Nandyal districts despite their initial demand for four seats in both the regions. They remain hopeful for a last-minute seat allocation as part of the alliance.
