Sons of six former Chief Ministers in fray in Andhra Pradesh

Amaravati, March 22: Sons of at least six former Chief Ministers of Andhra Pradesh will be in the fray for May 13 simultaneous polls to the Andhra Pradesh Assembly and Lok Sabha while daughters of two former Chief Ministers are also likely to join the race.

Leading the list of high-profile candidates is the Chief Minister and YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) President Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy. The son of the former Chief Minister of erstwhile united Andhra Pradesh late Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy will be seeking re-election from the Pulivendula constituency in YSR family’s home district Kadapa.

Pulivendula has been considered a pocket borough of the YSR family since 1978. Jagan Mohan Reddy will be seeking re-election from here for a third consecutive term.

His sister and state Congress Chief Y. S. Sharmila is likely to enter the fray from the Kadapa Lok Sabha constituency to challenge the sitting MP and cousin Y. S. Avinash Reddy.

Kadapa has also been the stronghold of the YSR family since 1989.

Children of another former Chief Minister and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) founder N. T. Rama Rao will also be testing their political fortunes. Interestingly, like YSR, the children of NTR will also be contesting on tickets of different parties.

NTR’s son and popular actor N. Balakrishna will be looking for a hat-trick as MLA from the Hindupur constituency.

NTR himself was elected from Hindupur in 1985, 1989 and 1994. His elder son N. Harikrishna was also elected from here in the by-poll held in 1996 following the death of the thespian.

NTR’s daughter D. Purandeswari, who is president of the state BJP, is also likely to contest for Parliament.

A former union minister, Purandeswari had quit Congress to join the BJP in 2014 after the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh.

TDP and BJP are contesting the polls in alliance with the Jana Sena Party of popular actor Pawan Kalyan.

Former Chief Minister and TDP President N. Chandrababu Naidu’s son Nara Lokesh will again test his political fortunes from the Mangalagiri Assembly seat. He had unsuccessfully contested the same seat in 2019.

Another former Chief Minister Nadendla Bhaskar Rao’s son Nadendla Manohar is contesting for Assembly from Tenali on a Jana Sena ticket. Chairman of Jana Sena’s Political Affairs Committee, Manohar was elected to the Assembly of the united Andhra Pradesh from Tenail in 2004 and 2009 on the Congress ticket. He had served as the last Speaker of the united Andhra Pradesh Assembly.

Earlier, Bhaskar Rao was elected from Tenali on Congress ticket in 1989.

Former Chief Minister Kotla Vijayabhaskar Reddy’s son Kotla Jayasurya Prakash Reddy will be contesting for Assembly from Dhone constituency. He will take on Finance Minister Buggana Rajendranath Reddy of YSRCP.

Vijaya Bhaskar Reddy was elected from Dhone on Congress ticket in 1994. Jayasurya Prakash Reddy’s wife K. Sujatha Reddy was also elected from the constituency on the Congress ticket in 2004.

Former Chief Minister N. Janardhan Reddy’s son N. Ramkumar Reddy will be testing his political fortunes from Venkatagiri Assembly constituency on YSRCP ticket. He is making his electoral debut.

Janardhan Reddy contested on the Congress ticket from Venkatagiri in 1989. His wife N. Rajyalakshmi had also been elected twice from here in 1999 and 2004.