Vijayawada: It will be a clash of business tycoons in the Vijayawada Lok Sabha segment with the TD, YSRC and the BJP fielding wealthy candidates belonging to the Kamma community. Because of this, it is possible that voters from other castes will tilt the balance.
While the TD has renominated sitting MP Kesineni Srinivas (Nani), the YSRC had changed its candidate and fielded businessman and philanthropist, Potluri Vara Prasad, or PVP. The BJP had fielded contractor-turned-advocate Dileep Kilaru.
The YSRC is banking on Dalit votes, the TD on the educated and urban voters and the BJP on the other sections of society.
In 2014, Mr Srinivas, who was relatively new to politics at that time, was successful in edging out YSRC candidate Koneru Prasad with a margin of 74,862 votes. Mr Srinivas is now confident of winning the seat again, this time with a record margin.
“I am going to win with more than 2 lakh votes. There is no anti-incumbency against the state government, there is a feel-good factor. During my tenure Vijayawada has seen lot of progress and the city has been beautified to its best,” he told this newspaper. Mr Srinivas has already launched his campaign, his day starting at 7 am.
Mr Prasad of the YSRC has his roots in Vijayawada and is a known face thanks to the mall that bears his name. Lamenting that Vijayawada despite being the nerve centre of the capital had not seen much progress in the last five years, Mr Prasad assures he will make it a fun city.
He has started his campaign in style, and has started visiting places of worship. He unveiled his party’s vision of industrialisation of the state at a recent meet conducted by CII.
BJP candidate Kilaru Dileep has been banking on the reforms of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Central government’s schemes.
“The TD has been spreading falsehood about the BJP. Our party has done a lot for Andhra Pradesh. The urban development ministry alone has released Rs 1,500 crore to develop a stormwater drainage system in Vijayawada and Guntur. The state government was pretty slow in implementing it,” Mr Kilaru told this newspaper.
The Lok Sabha constituency consists of Vijayawada West, Vijayawada Central, Vijayawada East, Nandigama, Mylavaram, Tiru-vuru and Jaggayyapet Assembly segments.
