Future of sitting Machilipatnam MP Balashouri hangs in balance

Vijayawada: Confusion prevailed on future of sitting Machilipatnam MP V Balashouri, who quit the YSRCP a month ago and joined Jana Sena with a hope of contesting from Machilipatnam.

The JSP had earlier announced that it would field Balashouri from Machilipatnam.

In the press release on Sunday, Jana Sena announced the name of only one candidate T Uday Srinivas for Kakinada Lok Sabha seat. The name of Balashouri is missing.

As part of the seat sharing in the TDP-JSP-BJP alliance, the JSP can field two candidates for Lok Sabha polls from the State.. The party so far officially announced only one name. Now the question is who will be the second Lok Sabha candidate from the JSP. K Nagababu, brother of JSP president Pawan Kalyan, is willing to contest Lok Sabha polls.

If Nagababu is fielded from Machilipatnam, the main aspirant Balashouri will be disappointed. With a lot of hope of contesting the ensuing Lok Sabha polls from Machilipatnam, Balashouri quit the YSRCP and formally joined the JSP in the presence of Pawan Kalyan.

He will be upset if the JSP denies him ticket to contest from Machilipatnam. He won Lok Sabha polls twice whis his last victory being in 2019.

There is also a possibility of Jana Sena chief Pawan also contesting for Lok Sabha. In Machilipatnam, Kapu and BC voters play key role in deciding the fate of contesting candidates.

Machilipatnam has been a strong base for Kapu leaders and voters for a long time. It is speculated that Pawan Kalyan has not announced the party candidate for the Machilipatnam Lok Sabha seat keeping his options open to contest for Lok Sabha also.