3 aspirants for Kavali ticket create confusion among YSRCP cadre

Nellore: YSRCP cadre in Kavali Assembly constituency is in confusion as the party leadership did not finalise the candidate for the ensuing elections. R Pratap Kumar Reddy is the sitting MLA and former legislators and party leaders K Vishnuvardhan Reddy and Vonteru Venugopala Reddy are aspirants for the ticket. 

Recently, Vishnuvardhan Reddy met party chief YS Jaganmohan Reddy in Pulivendula on Sunday and he reportedly requested him to allocate Kavali ticket in the upcoming elections by saying that he had worked for the win of sitting MLA Pratap in 2014 elections.

However, YS Jagan suggested Vishnuvardhan to be ready to accept MLC post if he was denied MLA ticket. The party chief also asked him to wait for some time till further discussions take place. 

Meanwhile, Rajya Sabha member V Prabhakar Reddy visited Kavali and started campaign on behalf of the sitting MLA. He interacted with local leaders and asked them to support Pratap which surprised supporters of Vishnu and Vonteru. 

Venugopala Reddy from Hyderabad has informed through the social media that he would be contesting from the constituency. He tweeted recently that he is expecting ticket this time as the party had considered his honesty and sincere work. So, his followers are happy and started their own campaign. 

It may be recalled that former MP Mekapati Rajamohan Reddy earlier announced that Pratap Kumar Reddy is the candidate from Kavali this time too which created tremors in the party cadre. So, party workers are in fear that there would be negative impact on the party in case both Vishnu and Venugopal were denied this time and the cross voting would significantly impact winning chances of the sitting candidate.

According to local party cadre, Vishnu might jump to the TDP if he was denied ticket this time. But, senior leaders of the party at district-level have been supporting Pratap.