TDP releases second list of 34 candidates; Pawan Kalyan to contest from Pithapuram

With this, TDP has announced 128 candidates out of 144, and Jana Sena has announced 16 out of 21, while the BJP is yet to release its list.

ByBhaskar Basava

Published Mar 14, 2024 | 4:30 PMUpdatedMar 14, 2024 | 4:30 PM

JSP chief Pawan Kalyan, TDP chief Chandrababu. (File Pic: Supplied)

The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief Chandrababu Naidu has released a second list of 34 candidates from his party on 14 March. This list comes after the TDP’s much anticipated joining of the NDA with its ally Jana Sena Party (JSP) has been finalised.

Earlier, on 24 February, the party announced 94 candidates, bringing the total now to 128 candidates. As part of the alliance with JSP and BJP, the TDP will be contesting in 144 assembly segments out of 175.

Pawan Kalyan’s party, which has so far announced six candidates out of 21, held talks with nine more assembly incharges, asking them to begin groundwork for their nominations.

Amid much anticipation from his fans, Pawan Kalyan announced at a cadre meeting at his party office in Mangalagiri today, marking the party’s 11th formation day, that he is contesting as a Jana Sena MLA from the Pithapuram constituency in Kakinada District.

Meanwhile, for the first time in a decade, with the TDP-JSP-BJP reunion, PM Modi is scheduled to attend a public meeting at Chilakaluripet on 17 March alongside Chandrababu Naidu and Pawan Kalyan, where the manifesto is likely to be announced.

Read: Wooed for Kapu votes by all parties, Mudragada Padmanabham to join YSRCP

The TDP’s second list

The second list included the names of 34 candidates, among whom seven were women and 27 were men.

Here is the list:

Narasannapeta – Boggu Ramana Murthy; Gajuwaka – Palla Srinivas; Chodavaram – KSNS Raju; Madugula – Pyala Prasad; Prathipadu – Varupula Satyaprabha; Ramachandrapuram – Vasamsetti Subhash; Rajamundry Rural Gorantla Butchaih Chowdary; Rampachodavaram (ST) – Miryala Sireesha; Kovvuru (SC) – Muppidi Venkateswara Rao; Denduluru – Chintamaneni Prabhakar; Gopalapuram (SC)- Muddhipati Venkata Raju; Pedakurapadu – Bashyam Praveen; Guntur West – Piduguralla Madhavi; Guntur East – Mohammad Nazeer.

 

Gurazala – Yarapathineni Srinivas Rao; Kandukur – Inturi Nageswara Rao; Markapuram – Kandhula Narayana Reddy; Giddaluru – Ashok Reddy; Atmakur – Anam Ramanarayana Reddy; Kovvur – Vemireddy Prashanti Reddy; Venkatagiri – Kurugondla Lakshmi Priya; Kalamapuram – Puttha Chaitanya Reddy; Proddatur – Varadharajula Reddy; Nandikotkur (SC) – Gitta Jayasurya
Yemmiganur – Jayanageswara Reddy; Mantralayam – Raghavendra Reddy; Puttaparthi – Palle Sindhura Reddy; Kadiri – Kandikunta Yashoda Devi.

Punganur – Challa Ramachandra Reddy (Babu); Madanapalle – Shah Jahan Basha; Puthalapattu (SC) – Dr. Kalikiri Murali Mohan; Chandragiri – Pulivarthi Venkata Mani Prasad (Nani); Srikalahasthi – Bojjala Venkata Sudhir Reddy; Sathyavedu (SC) – Koneti Adimulam.

Read: Why the TDP bent over backwards to give BJP 25% of the Lok Sabha seats in Andhra Pradesh

The Jana Sena’s list

The Jana Sena has announced six candidates out of the earlier allocation of 24, which was later reduced to 21 after its NDA ally joined the TDP.

On 13 March, Jana Sena Chief Pawan Kalyan talked to at least nine more members from his party and reportedly asked them to start working in their constituencies in tandem with TDP and BJP workers.

The Jana Sena candidates officially announced so far are as follows:

Nellimarra – Lokam Madhavi; Anakapalli – Konathaala Ramakrishna; Rajanagaram – Bathula Balaramakrishna; Kakinada Rural – Pantham Nananji; Tenali – Nadendla Manohar; Nidadavole – Kandula Durgesh.

The list of candidates with whom Pawan Kalyan met yesterday includes Pendurthi – Panchakarla Ramesh; Elamanchili – Sundarapu Vijayakumar; Visakhapatnam South – Vamsi Krishna Yadav; Tadepalligudem – Bolisetti Srinivas; Unguturu – Patsamatla Dharmaraju, Narasapuram – Bommidi Nayakar; Bhimavaram – Pulaparthi Ramanjaneyulu; Razole (SC) – Deva Varaprasad, Tirupati – Arani Srinivas.

Pawan Kalyan also announces his candidature from Pithapuram. The decision is influenced by the significant number of Kapu community voters in Pithapuram, whom the party believes are “loyalists” due to Pawan Kalyan belonging to the same community.

On the other hand, the BJP’s list of 10 assembly candidates and six MPs is also expected to be announced in the coming days.

PM Modi is set to attend the meeting, alongside Chandrababu Naidu and Pawan Kalyan, marking his first appearance since the 2014 campaign.

(Edited by Shauqueen Mizaj)