Purandeswari to contest from Rajahmundry LS constituency

VIJAYAWADA: Putting an end to the suspense and speculations on the contesting candidates of the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections, the BJP on Sunday released the names of six candidates.

As expected, BJP State presidentDaggubati Purandeswari will contest from Rajamahendravaram Lok Sabha constituency.

Former Chief Minsiter N Kiran Kumar Reddy will contest from Rajampeta Lok Sabha constituency and Kothapalli Geeta from Araku constituency. The party has fielded V Vara Prasad from Tirupati, B Srinivasa Varma from Narasapuram and C M Ramesh from Anakapalli.

The name of Raghurama Krishna Raju is missing from the list. The BJP leaders have faced severe competition for the Lok Sabha seats.

The BJP Central Election Committee has finalised the six MP candidates from AP on Sunday. Of the total 25 Lok Sabha constituencies in Andhra Pradesh, the BJP will contest from six Lok Sabha constituencies, the TDP from 17 constituencies and Jana Sena from two constituencies.

Last time, the TDP won only three Lok Sabha constituencies in the State. Now, for the ensuing Lok Sabha polls it has forged an electoral alliance with BJP and Jana Sena.

The names of leaders like GVL Narasimha Rao, P Madhav, Somu Veerraju, Vishnuvardhan Reddy and many other aspirants are missing from the list.

The BJP national leaders visited Vijayawada on couple of occasions and held discussions with the State and district leaders and finally released the list after careful examination and detailed study. C M Ramesh is a former TDP leader and Daggubati Purandeswari was earlier in Congress party. The list shows that the BJP has considered the winning prospects of the candidates rather than the duration of their association with the party.

Some BJP leaders who had been associated with the party for over two decades lost the race.