BJP-TDP fields Delhi excise scam accused-turned-approver Magunta Sreenivasulu as Lok Sabha candidate

Sreenivasulu Reddy and his son Raghava Magunta Reddy, also an accused-turn-approver in the same case, had quit YSRCP and joined TDP on 16 March, seven days after the yellow party and BJP officially announced that they would contest the polls together along with actor-politician Pawan Kalyan-led JSP.

The father-son duo was allegedly part of the South Group that reportedly gave kickbacks to AAP leaders through intermediaries for a favorable excise policy.

Delhi Chief Minister Aravind Kejriwal, former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, and Telangana MLC K Kavitha have been remanded in jail in the excise policy scam.

Former YSRCP minister Gummanur Jayaram, brother of Karnataka’s Sports Minister Gummanur Nagendra, too, has been allotted a TDP ticket.

Also Read: From Congress to TDP via YSRCP and excise scam: Magunta duo’s political journey in Andhra

Battleground Ongole

In an earlier list of candidates, the TDP nominated two YSRCP sitting MPs, Lavu Sri Krishna Devarayalu, and its Rajya Sabha member Vemireddy Prabhakar Reddy from Narasaraopet and Nellore, respectively.

The TDP had mulled fielding Raghav Reddy from Ongole, but Naidu changed his mind and fielded Sreenivasulu Reddy.

Raghava Reddy, arrested in the Delhi excise policy scam case on 11 February 2023, was granted bail on 10 August 2023.

In September 2023, his father and MP Sreenivasulu Reddy became the fourth person from the alleged ‘South Group’ to become an approver in the case, after Raghava Reddy, Hyderabad-based industrialist P Sarath Chandra Reddy, and BRS leader Kavitha’s former Chartered Accountant Butchibabu Gorantla.

Incidentally, the former YSRCP MP and his son joined the TDP a day after Kavitha’s arrest from her Banjara Hills residence in Hyderabad.

After joining the party, Magunta Junior was seen engaged in door-to-door campaigns in Ongole.

Though Raghava Reddy seemed interested in contesting with his father’s backing from Ongole, the TDP chief wanted only the senior Magunta to contest this election.

On 25 March, he released a statement from his party office stating that he was not contesting as an MP: “TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu wanted to field my father Srinivasulu Reddy instead of me for the good future of the Ongole as well as the state,” the statement read.

The other three Lok Sabha contestants TDP named in the final list were Kalisetti Appala Naidu (Vizianagaram), Ambica Lakshminarayana (Anantapur), Chadipiralla Bhupesh Reddy (Kadapa).

Kadappa would witness an interesting fight between YS Jagan Mohan Reddy’s cousin Avinash Reddy, an accused in the murder of his uncle and former minister YS Vivekananda Reddy, and Bhupesh Reddy of the TDP.

Also Read: Kejriwal ‘kingpin’ of excise scam, claims ED; seeks 10-day remand as protests erupt over his arrest

Yashoda makes way for husband

The TDP has replaced an MLA in its final list of Assembly candidates. It replaced Kandikunta Yashoda with her husband, former MLA Venkata Prasad, in Kadri.

Ganta Srinivasa Rao (Bheemili), Gummanur Jayaram (Guntakal),), Sugavasi Subramanyam (Rajampet), Venkata Ramesh Naidu (Paderu-ST), Veerabhadra Goud (Alur), Daggupati Venkateswara Prasad (Anantapur City), K Kala Venkata Rao (Cheepurupalli), and Gottipati Lakshmi Killu (Darsi) are the other candidates.

Former YSRCP minister Jayaram, the sitting MLA from Alur, left the YSRCP after the party denied him an Assembly ticket and instead considered him to contest the Lok Sabha.

While former minister Ganta Srinivas Rao, the MLA representing Visakhapatnam North, has been nominated from the neighbouring Bheemili, where he would take on his close aide-turned-rival and former YSRCP minister Muttamsetti Srinivasa Rao.

Former minister K Kala Venkata Rao would be vying with YSRCP stalwart and minister Botcha Satyanarayana in Cheepurupalli.

(Edited by Majnu Babu).