Amarnath likely to be fielded from Gajuwaka

Visakhapatnam : The process of selecting a candidate for Gajuwaka Assembly constituency for the ruling YSRCP has taken a new turn. After denying the ticket to sitting MLA Tippala Nagireddy, several other names were proposed for Gajuwaka constituency.

On the other hand, dispelling doubts over the allotment of ticket to IT Minister Gudivada Amarnath, the party high command decided to appoint him as the party coordinator of Gajuwaka constituency.

The overnight move has changed the political scenario in the constituency. Much before the election heat picked up in Visakhapatnam, Tippala Nagireddy’s son Tippala Devan Reddy was the in-charge of Gajuwaka constituency. Since the ticket was denied for Nagireddy, his son decided to resign from the post.

Following which, GVMC 70th ward corporator and follower of Gudivada Amarnath, Urikuti Ramachandra Rao (Chandu) was appointed as the coordinator of the constituency.

However, his appointment drew much criticism from Nagireddy’s supporters. They have asserted that the locals will not extend support to Chandu if he is contesting from the constituency. They also demanded Rajya Sabha member and YSRCP regional coordinator YV Subba Reddy to reconsider giving the ticket to Nagireddy for the ensuing Assembly polls. They also staged a protest against Chandu’s appointment. However,, Subba Reddy maintained that Chandu would be contesting from Gajuwaka. Since then, the MLA and his supporters refused to participate in any of the meetings organised by Chandu. Then as part of a corrective measure, the ruling party considered Mayor G Hari Venkata Kumari for the constituency but only for a short while.

Meanwhile, the responsibility of Anakapalli constituency in-charge was severed for sitting MLA and Minister Gudivada Amarnath and given to M Bharath, making it clear that the former has no scope to contest from Anakapalli. Even as other names were coming to the fore while releasing the contesting candidates list, there was no mention of Amarnath in them.

For a while, the Minister was considered for the Pendurthi constituency. On other occasions, Amarnath was also considered for Chodavaram and Elamanchili constituencies. However, the sitting MLAs in these constituency opposed the proposal. For a brief period, Amarnath was also expected to contest as an MP from Anakapalli. Finally, his followers and supporters heaved a sigh of relief as the party high command made him the in-charge of Gajuwaka after months of dilly-dallying. However, it is difficult to come to a conclusion that this decision would be final as far as Gajuwaka is concerned.

The possibility of the ruling YSRCP changing the candidate could not be ruled out once the combined candidate of BJP, TDP and JSPgets finalised.