While former Union minister MM Pallam Raju will be fielded from Kakinada, former APCC chief Gidugu Rudra Raju will contest from Rajahmundry.
PHOTO: X/@realyssharmila
Kadapa, the bastion of the YSR family, is poised to witness a fierce battle between cousins after the Congress fielded its Andhra Pradesh chief YS Sharmila Reddy against her cousin YS Avinash Reddy of the YSRCP. Avinash Reddy, the sitting YSRCP MP from Kadapa, is also facing allegations in the murder case of his uncle YS Vivekananda Reddy, the younger brother of former chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy.
While former Union minister MM Pallam Raju will be fielded from Kakinada, former APCC chief Gidugu Rudra Raju will contest from Rajahmundry. The Congress on Tuesday announced its candidates for the five MP seats and 114 Assembly seats in Andhra Pradesh.
However, Kadapa is set to grab eyeballs due to the intense contest within the YSR family. This is because Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy will be contesting from Pulivendula, one of the seven Assembly constituencies under the Kadapa Lok Sabha seat.
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Retaining Kadapa would be a prestige issue for the Chief Minister already beleaguered by the alliance between TDP and BJP against him. Avinash Reddy who is also related to YS Jagan Mohan Reddy’s wife Bharathi enjoys his backing and the YSRCP had successfully held off the CBI when its team had reached Kadapa to arrest him.
On the other hand YS Sharmila enjoys the backing of Dr Narreddy Sunitha, the daughter of the murdered uncle, who has vowed to defeat Avinash Reddy and Jagan Mohan Reddy. The Kadapa seat has traditionally been with the YSR family. Incidentally, the CBI had said that Vivekananda Reddy was murdered by Avinash Reddy’s men because he opposed his candidature from the Kadapa seat and wanted either Sharmila or her mother Vijayamma to contest from that particular seat.
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