Vijayawada: One minister, 4 former ministers in fray from erstwhile Krishna district

Vijayawada : One Minister and four former ministers are among the nominees of the mainstream political parties contesting from erstwhile Krishna district in the Assembly elections to be held on May 13.

Housing minister Jogi Ramesh is contesting from Penamaluru Assembly constituency. The former ministers in the fray include Kodali Nani from Gudivada, Vellampalli Srinivas from Vijayawada Central, Kollu Ravindra from Machilipatnam and Kolusu Parthasarathy from Nuzvid.

Vellampalli Srinivas and Kodali Nani had worked as the Endowments Minister and Civil Supplies Minister respectively. Kolusu Parthasararathy earlier served as Minister during the Congress rule.

Now, he is contesting on behalf of the TDP. Kollu Ravindra earlier worked as Excise minister in the Naidu’s government between 2014 and 2019.

The TDP-Jana Sena-BJP alliance has announced the names of the candidates for 13 Assembly constituencies in erstwhile Krishna district. The contesting candidates are yet to be announced for the three constituencies of Vijayawada West, Avanigadda and Kaikaluru.

The TDP has announced the names for 13 constituencies and most of them started election campaign. Senior TDP leader Gadde Rammohan is contesting from Vijayawada East, Bonda Umamaheswara Rao from Vijayawada Central, Rajagopal Sriram from Jaggaiahpet and Tangirala Sowmya from Nandigama.

While Vasanta Krishna Prasad is contesting from Mylavaram, Kolikapudi Srinivasa Rao is contesting from Tiruvuru. Gadde Rammohan was earlier elected three times to the Assembly. Sriram Rajagopal was elected twice from Jaggaiahpet. Bonda Uma, Tangirala Sowmya and Vasantha Krishna Prasad each were elected once.

TDP leader Kollu Ravindra is contesting from Machilipatnam constituency, Venigandla Ramu from Gudivada, Yarlagadda Venkata Rao from Gannavaram and Kolusu Parthasarathy from Nuzvid.

The YSRCP has announced the names of the nominees for all 16 Assembly constituencies in erstwhile Krishna district. YSRCP leader Shaik Asif will be contesting from Vijayawada West, Velampalli Srinivas from Vijayawada Central and Devineni Avinash from Vijayawada East.

Sitting MLA Mondithoka Jagan Mohana Rao is the nominee for Nandigama constituency, former MLA Nallagatla Swamy Das is contesting from Tiruvuru and S Tirumala Yadav from Mylavaram.

Five times MLA Kodali Nani will be contesting from Gudivada, Perni Kittu from Machilipatnam, Simhadri Ramesh Babu from Avanigadda and Kaila Anil Kumar from Pamarru constituency. Simhadri Ramesh Babu and Anil Kumar are sitting MLAs.

The YSRCP fielded sitting MLA Meka Venkata Pratap from Nuzvid and another sitting MLA Vallabhaneni Vamsi from Gannavaram.

Senior YSRCP leader and three times MLA Samineni Udaya Bhanu is contesting from Jaggaiahpet. Uppala Ramu is the nominee of Pedana Assembly constituency. Sitting MLA Dulam Nageswara Rao is the nominee for the Kaikaluru Assembly constituency. Nuzvid and Kaikaluru are merged with Eluru district after reorganisation of districts.

Now, seven Assembly constituencies are in Krishna district and seven in NTR district. The TDP-Jana Sena-BJP alliance is yet to announce the names of the candidates for Vijayawada West, Avanigadda and Kaikaluru Assembly constituencies.

There is heavy competition between BJP and Jana Sena for Vijayawada West Assembly constituency. The party cadre is waiting for the announcement of names for the three Assembly constituencies.