The BJP on Wednesday announced former Central Minister Daggubati Purandeswari, the daughter of TDP founder late NT Rama Rao, who had recently crossed over to the party from the Congress, as its candidate from the Rajampeta lok Sabha seat in Seemandhra. Purandeswari is the sitting MP from Visakhapatnam, from where the BJP fielded its State unit chief Dr K Hari Babu.
The party had held back announcing Purandeswari’s candidature on Tuesday though it went ahead with declaring three of its five candidates including that on Visakhapatnam. Purandeswari was keen to be fielded from Visakhapatnam, which she represents.Besides Purandeswari and Hari Babu, while Gokaraju Ganga Raju has been fielded from Narsapur, Karumanchi Jayaram has been given the ticket to contest from Tirupati, an SC lok Sabha seat.
There was stiff resistance in the State BJP unit against new entrants from the Congress. “There were strong local contenders for Rajampeta,” sources said adding that it was not an easy seat to win for the BJP. “There is also anti-Congress wave in Seemandhra,” they added.Purandeswari had quit the Congress on March 7 saying she was left with no option after the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh. The Central Election Committee of the BJP late on Tuesday also announced 13 candidates for Assembly election in Seemandhra.
BJP and TDP have a seat-sharing agreement for the lok Sabha Assembly polls for Telangana and Seemandhra regions. BJP has already announced its candidates for Telangana. The BJP will contest five lok Sabha seats and 15 Assembly seats in Andhra; in Telangana it will contest eight lok Sabha seats and 47 Assembly seats. TDP’s top leaders including its Chief N Chandrababu Naidu, had opposed Purandeswari’s candidature. Both Naidu, who is NTR’s son-in-law and Purandeswari are political rivals seeking to claim NTR’s political legacy.
As part of its poll alliance, the TDP allotted five parliamentary constituencies to the BJP, out of which three are general constituencies, one is a Scheduled Tribe (ST) seat and another one reserved for Scheduled Castes (SC), in the residual State of a bifurcated Andhra Pradesh.
