Divorce with TDP may cost BJP Vizag, as no MP, MLA ready to contest next elections
Shaukat Mohammed | TNN | Jan 22, 2019, 15:46 IST
VISAKHAPATNAM: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) appears to be left with no party member willing to contest the forthcoming elections to the Vidhan Sabha and Parliament, according to party sources.
The city is represented by K Haribabu in the Lok Sabha, while Penmetsa Vishnu Kumar Raju represents the Visakhapatnam North constituency in the state legislative assembly.
Haribabu won the Vizag LS seat in 2014 with a margin of over 90,000 votes, defeating YS Vijayamma of YSRCP. Raju defeated his rival Chokkakula Venkata Rao of the YSRCP with a margin of over 18,000 votes.
The BJP, which opened its account in the city in 2014, 34 years after the party won the municipal elections in 1980, leveraged the alliance the party had with the Telugu Desam Party. The TDP did not field any candidate for the parliamentary seat and the assembly seat as part of its seat-sharing agreement with the BJP.
However, with the TDP exiting its alliance with the NDA government at the Centre in March last year, it appears that sitting candidates are headed to the exit, as they would not be able to win re-election, a senior BJP leader said.
“While Haribabu has not indicated so far that he would be seeking a re-election on the BJP ticket, Raju reportedly will not be seeking a nomination from our party for re-election,” source said. Haribabu had probably resigned himself to the fact that without the TDP’s support, it would be an uphill climb for his re-election bid. “The BJP does not have the party machine to put up a credible fight for the Visakhapatnam Lok Sabha seat. In 2014, it relied on the TDP’s machine to help get him elected. This time round, the TDP will be putting up a candidate for the LS seat,” says a senior TDP leader.
“If Naidu decides to ally with the Congress, and there are no indications as of now that he will, then the Congress may demand the LS seat. T Subbarami Reddy, a RS member from the Congress is lobbying for the seat, which he had won in the nineties,” a senior Congress leader said. Raju is reportedly lobbying with the TDP for the Visakhapatnam North assembly seat, but Naidu is not keen to oblige, the TDP leader said. “If TDP and Congress form an alliance, then the Congress is keen to nominate Dronamraju Srinivas, a former MLA, for the seat. If there is no alliance, then the TDP is likely to nominate Sheikh Abdul Rahman, who is also a former MLA,” he said.
The city is represented by K Haribabu in the Lok Sabha, while Penmetsa Vishnu Kumar Raju represents the Visakhapatnam North constituency in the state legislative assembly.
Haribabu won the Vizag LS seat in 2014 with a margin of over 90,000 votes, defeating YS Vijayamma of YSRCP. Raju defeated his rival Chokkakula Venkata Rao of the YSRCP with a margin of over 18,000 votes.
The BJP, which opened its account in the city in 2014, 34 years after the party won the municipal elections in 1980, leveraged the alliance the party had with the Telugu Desam Party. The TDP did not field any candidate for the parliamentary seat and the assembly seat as part of its seat-sharing agreement with the BJP.
However, with the TDP exiting its alliance with the NDA government at the Centre in March last year, it appears that sitting candidates are headed to the exit, as they would not be able to win re-election, a senior BJP leader said.
“While Haribabu has not indicated so far that he would be seeking a re-election on the BJP ticket, Raju reportedly will not be seeking a nomination from our party for re-election,” source said. Haribabu had probably resigned himself to the fact that without the TDP’s support, it would be an uphill climb for his re-election bid. “The BJP does not have the party machine to put up a credible fight for the Visakhapatnam Lok Sabha seat. In 2014, it relied on the TDP’s machine to help get him elected. This time round, the TDP will be putting up a candidate for the LS seat,” says a senior TDP leader.
“If Naidu decides to ally with the Congress, and there are no indications as of now that he will, then the Congress may demand the LS seat. T Subbarami Reddy, a RS member from the Congress is lobbying for the seat, which he had won in the nineties,” a senior Congress leader said. Raju is reportedly lobbying with the TDP for the Visakhapatnam North assembly seat, but Naidu is not keen to oblige, the TDP leader said. “If TDP and Congress form an alliance, then the Congress is keen to nominate Dronamraju Srinivas, a former MLA, for the seat. If there is no alliance, then the TDP is likely to nominate Sheikh Abdul Rahman, who is also a former MLA,” he said.
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