Visakhapatnam: Tough fight between YSRCP, TDP on cards

Visakhapatnam : As the candidate for Visakhapatnam Lok Sabha seat from TDP has now been made official, it is going to be a tough battle between candidates from the YSRCP and the alliance of the three parties, TDP-JSP-BJP.

Well in advance, the YSRCP announced Education Minister Botcha Satyanarayana's wife Botcha Jhansi Lakshmi as its MP candidate for Visakhapatnam, while the TDP-JSP-BJP alliance broke its suspense by announcing Sribharat Mathukumilli as the candidate for the alliance.

Even as other potential candidates are in the fray, the TDP has finally zeroed in on TDP Visakhapatnam parliament in-charge Sribharat as the LS candidate of Visakhapatnam.

Compared to the 2019 elections, Sribharat appears to have several plus points working towards his advantage. One, he is contesting as an alliance candidate of BJP, TDP and JSP this time. Two, he has the experience of contesting as an MP in the previous polls from the TDP ticket. Three, he is the president of a well-known educational group of institutions GITAM and has a huge following of youth. Four, being a local candidate, he has a grip over the issues here. Also, he is the youngest candidate contesting for Lok Sabha constituency.

Despite BJP candidates expecting the LS seat for quite a while and working hard towards reserving the ticket they aspired for, the alliance finally decided to allot the ticket to Sribharat in Visakhapatnam Lok Sabha constituency. Going forward, it is going to be a tough fight between the YSRCP and alliance candidates.

In 2019, the fight was among three candidates, including M Sribharat from TDP, MVV Satyanarayana from YSRCP and VV Lakhminarayana from Jana Sena Party. Along with them, Daggubati Purandeswari from BJP and Pedada Ramani Kumari from Congress contested for the LS seat but eventually lost in the last elections.

Even as there were a host of candidates in the fray from different parties who vied for the MP seat, MVV Satyanarayana garnered 4,36,906 votes in the last elections. Standing next to MVV was Sribharat, securing 4,32,492 votes. Lakhminarayana from the JSP bagged 2,88,874 votes. BJP candidate Daggubati Purandeswari managed to draw 33,892 votes. However, MVV won with a majority of 4,414 votes.

With the BJP, TDP and JSP coming together in 2024 polls, the alliance leaders predict that Sribharat would have a higher scope for getting a huge majority of votes. In the previous polls, the votes polled for BJP, TDP and JSP candidates together were 7.55 lakh whereas the YSRCP candidate secured 4.36 lakh votes. With the three parties coming together this time, how far it would help Sribharat secure votes in his favour has to be seen.

Despite Sribharat having a chance of gaining an edge over previous elections, the ruling party’s candidate Botcha Jhansi Lakshmi is all set to give a tough fight.

After offering prayers at Sri Kanaka Mahalakshmi temple, the poll campaign of Jhansi Lakshmi commenced in the first week of March itself.

The Visakhapatnam YSRCP MP candidate has a long stint of political career along with the support of her husband and Education Minister Bothca Satyanarayana. As her campaign picks up pace, she exudes confidence that the people of Andhra Pradesh would certainly extend their support to the YSRCP and help YS Jagan Mohan Reddy to become the Chief Minister for the second successive time.