VIJAYAWADA: All the turncoats from YSRC, who jumped ship to other parties and contested the polls, laughed their way to success in the present elections in Andhra Pradesh. Five such MPs and eight MLAs won the elections.
The Telugu Desam, Jana Sena and BJP expected large-scale shifting of YSRC leaders into their parties before and during the selections of candidates.
YSRC president Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy denied party tickets to 81 sitting legislators and changed candidates in those seats. This led to the exodus.
Those who joined the TD and Jana Sena from YSRC tasted success in the polls. But those who went to YSRC from TD and BJP were defeated.
Vemireddy Prabhakar Reddy, who joined the TD from YSRC won the Nellore LS, rebel YSRC MPs Lavu Srikrishna Devarayalu and Magunta Srinivasula Reddy joined TD and won the Narasaraopet and Ongole LS seats, Byreddy Sabari who joined TD from BJP won as Nandyala MP and BJP Telangana leader Tenneti Krisshnaprasad who joined TD won the Bapatla LS seat.
As for turncoat MLAs, Vemireddy Prasanthi Reddy, wife of Vemireddy Prabhakar Reddy who joined TD from YSRC won the Kovvuru assembly seat in Nellore district.
YSRC MLAs Anam Ramanarayana Reddy in Atmakuru, Kotamreddy Sridhar Reddy in Nellore Rural, Kolusu Parthasarathy from Nuzivid of Krishna district, Vasantha Krishna Prasad in Mylavaram, former minister Gummanuru Jayaram in Guntakal, Koneti Adimulam in Satyaveedu emerged victorious.
YSRC rebel legislator Arani Srinivasulu, who joined the Jana Sena from the YSRC had contested the Tirupati seat on JS ticket.
YSRC rebel MP, K Raghu Rama Krishna Raju, who continuously haunted Jagan Mohan Reddy through court cases for the past few years resigned from YSRC before the elections. He joined TD, got his ticket for the Undi constituency and won the elections hands down.
Political analysts noted that a pro-TD-BJP-JS wave was in full swing, which helped even turncoats to laugh their way to success.
