As the TDP shifted his Assembly constituency from Bheemunipatnam to Visakhapatnam North, HRD Minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao has retained his record of not contesting from a constituency for the second time.

In spite of his firm declaration time and again that he would contest from Bheemunipatnam alone, TDP national president and Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu nominated him from Visakhapatnam North.

With his name doing the rounds for the Bheemunipatnam and Anakapalle Assembly constituencies, for a while it looked like he would contest from one of them.

Stint in PRP

Mr. Srinivasa Rao began his career with the TDP and won from Anakapalle Lok Sabha constituency in 1999. In 2004, he was elected from Chodavaram Assembly constituency on the TDP ticket. In 2009, he fought the election successfully from Anakapalle Assembly constituency on the Praja Rajyam Party (PRP) ticket.

By 2014, he was back in the TDP via the Congress, having become a Minister in the Congress Government.

Before the 2014 elections, he, along with ‘Avanthi’ Srinivasa Rao, Panchakarla Rameshbabu and U.V. Ramana Murthy Raju joined the TDP at a meeting addressed by Mr. Naidu. Now Mr. ‘Avanthi’ Srinivasa Rao and Mr. Raju are in the YSRCP.

Though Mr. Srinivasa Rao contested from Anakaplle twice – for the Lok Sabha and the Assembly – it was not in succession and not for the same seat. He associated himself more with the Visakhapanam Urban area even when he represented Anakapalle and Chodavaram.