Visakhapatnam: Election for the Bheemili Assembly segment will see two former MPs who had represented Anakapalle Lok Sabha constituency being pitted against each other from the Telugu Desam and YSR Congress. The Jana Sena has fielded Panchakarla Sandeep.
While the YSRC has opted to give the ticket to sitting MP Avanthi Srinivas, who had defected to the party from the TD, former MP Sabbam Hari will be representing the TD in the contest.
Mr Srinivas has a strong following in the constituency, as he has built a good rapport with the party cadre before the 2014 elections and continued to be in touch with them.
However, the choice of Mr Hari for the TD ticket has been a surprise; even he did not expect the party to pick him. According to sources, it will be very tough for Mr Hari, as he needs to build his base in the constituency.
It appears to be advantage YSRC on another count – the people had voted for the TD candidate Ganta Srinivasa Rao last time and Mr Srinivas sees anti-incumbency all over. He expects the election to be a cakewalk for him.
Mr Srinivas said, “My win is certain after seeing the response from the public. There is a wave in the state in favour of YSRC and my cadre is strong here. Earlier, Lokesh thought of contesting from here and then the TD considered giving the ticket to Ganta Srinivas Rao. But, both of them ran away to other constituencies, this shows how afraid TD leaders are to contest against me.”
Mr Hari is not prepared for the election; he was not interested to contest from Bheemili and, if TD sources are to be believed, is still requesting the party chief for the Visakhapatnam Lok Sabha ticket.
With elections less than one month away, Mr Hari believes he stands a better chance contesting for the Visakhapatnam Lok Sabha seat than in Bheemili. Mr Hari met TD supremo N. Chandrababu Naidu in Amaravati on Tuesday and requested him to give the LS ticket.
However, the response from Mr Naidu was not positive, since he had already announced the ticket to M. Sri Bharath, grandson of the late M.V.V.S. Murthy.
