After extensive brainstorming and intense discussions, YSR Congress party president and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy has decided to retain former minister Balineni Srinivas Reddy for the Ongole assembly seat.
According to party sources, Jagan is expected to release the fourth list of candidates on Thursday night or Friday morning, and it will also feature several surprises and shocks.
However, sources indicate that Jagan has changed his mind about dropping Balineni Srinivas Reddy, who had been feeling sidelined in the party for quite some time. Over the past few weeks, he could not secure an audience with Jagan and had left for Hyderabad in a huff.
On Wednesday, Balineni received a call from Jagan asking him to come to Tadepalli by evening. The chief minister asked him to choose between Ongole and Giddaluru for contesting the assembly elections, and Balineni had no option but to choose Ongole.
However, Jagan bluntly turned down Balineni's request to retain Ongole MP Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy as well. He said there was no question of entertaining Magunta, who is likely to defect to the Telugu Desam Party.
In place of Magunta, the YSRC chief is rumored to have shortlisted two names – local businessman Satyanarayana Reddy or the present Chandragiri MLA Chevireddy Bhaskar Reddy for the Ongole MP seat.
Although there was a proposal to field former Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams trust board chairman Y.V. Subba Reddy, the latter is said to be more interested in a Rajya Sabha nomination than fighting a direct election.
For Kandukur, the chief minister has decided to drop sitting MLA Manugunta Maheedhar Reddy and replace him with Burra Madhusudhan Yadav, the party MLA from Kanigiri.
Similarly, Giddalur MLA Anna Rambabu is also being dropped as expected, and he would be replaced by Nagarjuna Reddy, a chartered accountant.
Jagan has also decided to retain Narsaraopet MP Lavu Krishna Devarayalu for the Narsaraopet Lok Sabha seat and withdraw his earlier plan to field the young leader Nagarjuna Yadav, who was strongly opposed by local YSRCP leaders.
Almost all the local MLAs under this Lok Sabha constituency have lobbied for the retention of Krishna Devarayalu and demanded that Yadav be dropped. Jagan had no option but to oblige them, sources said.
