An interesting battle is said to be going on within the Bharatiya Janata Party over contesting the upcoming Lok Sabha elections from Visakhapatnam parliamentary seat.
Newly appointed BJP Andhra unit president Daggubati Purandeshwari, who represented the Visakhapatnam Lok Sabha constituency between 2009 and 2014 and lost the same with a huge margin in 2019 elections, is contending for the seat again.
At the same time, another senior BJP leader and Rajya Sabha member G V L Narasimha Rao is also eyeing the seat and has been nurturing the constituency for the last two years. He has developed rapport with the local BJP leaders and is extensively touring the constituency to pitch for the seat.
However, both the leaders in the BJP have little chance of winning the seat on their own and have to invariably depend on the support of other parties. So, they are lobbying to get the support from other parties.
In 2009, Purandeshwari had won the seat on Congress ticket, thanks to the wave and image of Y S Rajasekhar Reddy. Moreover, it was a traditional Congress seat.
But by 2014, the situation changed rapidly, as the Congress lost its ground all over Andhra, including Visakhapatnam, because of its decision to divide the combined Andhra Pradesh. So, Purandeshwari defected to the BJP.
However, she did not get the BJP ticket from Visakhapatnam in 2014, as the party entered into an alliance with the TDP. The ticket was given to Kambhampati Hari Babu, as part of the alliance and he won the seat. Purandeshwari was shunted to Rajampet where she lost with a huge margin.
In 2019, Purandeshwari was back in Visakhapatnam to contest the Lok Sabha elections on the BJP ticket without allying with any other party. But she had to face the defeat with a huge margin; she won only around 33,000 votes and lost the deposit.
Now, she wants to try her luck again, with the support of Jana Sena Party and if possible, even the TDP. If there is an alliance among the three parties, Purandeshwari thinks she can easily win the seat.
However, GVL is putting spokes in her plans. Sources said he had entered into a secret understanding with the YSR Congress party led by chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, who has agreed to field a weak candidate, if GVL gets the ticket.
That is perhaps why Jagan has appointed sitting MP M V V Satyanarayana as Visakhapatnam (east) in-charge indicating that the latter would contest the assembly elections, so that it would be easier for GVL to win the seat.
If the BJP central leadership okays GVL for Vizag seat because of its understanding with the YSRCP, then Purandeshwari may have to go to Rajampet again!