Rajamahendravaram: Alliance finalises all 21 Assembly seats in erstwhile East Godavari district

Rajamahendravaram : The three-party alliance has confirmed candidates for all the 21 Assembly constituencies in three new districts under erstwhile East Godavari district. TDP candidates will be in fray in 15 seats while Jana Sena Party candidates are contesting in six seats. Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan announced name of Giddi Satyanarayana as candidate for P Gannavaram constituency on Saturday. East Godavari, Kakinada and Dr Ambedkar Konaseema district have seven Assembly constituencies each totalling 21 seats. There are three MP seats, one for each district.

According to the information released by the TDP and Jana Sena at various stages, candidates for all 21 Assembly seats have been finalised. It is learnt that each party is going to contest one Lok Sabha seat each. TDP candidate Ganti Harish Mathur is contesting from Amalapuram (SC reserved) Lok Sabha constituency in Konaseema district. The Kakinada MP seat in the Kakinada district has been allotted to JSP as part of the alliance. Tangella Uday Srinivas was selected as a candidate for this seat by party chief Pawan Kalyan.

There is a lot of buzz over BJP state president Daggubati Purandeswari contesting in Rajahmundry MP seat which has been allotted to BJP. However, none of the three parties has officially confirmed or denied this. The internal competition for MP seats in the BJP is currently being discussed at the level of the state and Central leadership to resolve the differences. It is expected that an official announcement will be made on the Rajahmundry MP seat when it concludes.

TDP had declared Mahasena Rajesh as its candidate from P Gannavaram Assembly constituency in the first list. But due to controversy over his past remarks about some issues, he expressed his uninterest in the contest.

There was uproar against his candidature with Jana Sena activists even coming onto roads and staging protest against him. Finally, TDP ceded the seat to Jana Sena.

BJP has not been allocated a single Assembly seat in the combined district.Giddi Satyanarayana, a police officer who had taken voluntary retirement, has been declared as P Gannavaram candidate by party chief now.