Vijayawada: Six former MLAs, 3 new faces in TDP’s first list

Vijayawada : The TDP-Jana Sena combine has opted for six former MLAs and three new candidates in the 11 members list announced on Saturday for the Assembly elections in Krishna district.

Interestingly, the names of two senior leaders Devineni Uma Maheswara Rao and Mandali Buddha Prasad are missing in the list from erstwhile Krishna district. The Jana Sena is yet to announce its names for the remaining seats in the district which have been left to them.

The TDP has chosen former MLAs for Machilipatnam, Vijayawada East, Nuzvid, Vijayawada Central, Nandigama and Jaggayyapeta Assembly constituencies.

Former Minister Kollu Ravindra will contest from Machilipatnam. Kollu Ravindra earlier worked as the minister for excise and prohibition in the TDP rule from 2014 to 2019.

Similarly, Gadde Rammohan from Vijayawada East, Tangirala Sowmya from Nandigama, Sriram Tataiah from Jaggaiahpet, Kolusu Parthasarathy from Nuzvid, Bonda Umamaheswara Rao from Vijayawada Central constituency and Kagita Krishna Prasad from Pedana.

Bonda Umamaheswara Rao was earlier elected from Vijayawada Central constituency in 2014 and he was defeated in 2019. Tangirala Sowmya was elected from Nandigama after the death of her father Tangirala Prabhakar. She was elected in the by-election.

The first time contestants are Varla Kumar Raja, son of party senior leader and politburo member Varla Ramaiah from Pamarru, Venigandla Ramu from Gudivada and Kolikapudi Srinivas from Tiruvuru.

Yarlagadda Venkata Rao will contest from Gannavaram. He had earlier contested in 2019 on behalf of YSRCP and was defeated by Vallabhaneni Vamsi. Kagita Krishna Prasad contested in 2019 from Pedana and was defeated by Jogi Ramesh of YSRCP.

Kolusu Parthasarathy was a minister in the Congress regime. He was elected as MLA earlier from both the Congress and YSRCP. He recently joined the TDP and is preparing ground to contest from Nuzvid. He had earlier registered victory thrice in his two decades of political career.

Gadde Rammohan is a senior leader and was elected three times to the State Assembly. He has registered victories in Gannavaram and Vijayawada East. Currently, he is the sitting MLA from Vijayawada East constituency. TDP leaders Kollu Ravindra, Gadde Rammohan, Sriram Tataiah and Bonda Umamaheswara Rao have been associated with the TDP for a long time.