YSR Congress party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, who has been reshuffling the constituencies of several candidates left, right and centre, is set to make yet another reshuffle in the fifth list of candidates.
According to the latest reports, Nellore (urban) MLA and former minister P Anil Kumar Yadav is likely to contest as the party candidate for Narsaraopet Lok Sabha seat. Jagan called Anil to the Tadepalli camp office on Thursday evening and held discussions in this regard.
The YSRCP chief doesn’t want to give the ticket to sitting MP Lavu Krishna Devarayalu for a second term and field a BC candidate in his place to balance the caste equations in the erstwhile combined Guntur district. Krishna Devarayalu was forced to quit the party and is likely to join the TDP.
Initially, Jagan has finalised the candidature of local leader Nagarjuna Yadav for Narsaraopet seat, but he being a light weight, the local MLAs have strongly opposed him. So, the party president had to look for some other Yadav.
Though he tried a couple of names, they, too, did not fit into his scheme of things. So, he decided to rope in Anil Kumar Yadav from Nellore to contest from Narasaraopet. It is not immediately known how Anil has responded to the offer.
Meanwhile, Jagan is also planning to drop sitting MPs in both Nandyal and Kurnool districts. Though he selected former minister Gummanur Jayaram as the party candidate for Kurnool, the latter is said to be disinterested and has not been in touch with the party ever since his name was finalised.
So, Jagan is said to be planning to field former MP Butta Renuka, who defected from TDP to YSRCP a few years ago. She is likely to figure in the fifth list of candidates. If she is not interested in the MP seat, she may be fielded from Yemmiganur assembly seat.
Similarly for Nandyal, sitting MP Pocha Brahmananda Reddy might be dropped and in his place, Jagan is planning to bring party MLC Md Iqbal from Hindupur in Anantapur district and field him as the MP candidate.
There are also reports that Jagan might bring back former minister and Rajya Sabha MP Mopidevi Venkataramana and give him party ticket from Repalle assembly constituency. In fact, Jagan has chosen Epuru Ganesh in Repalle, but the latter also turned out be a light weight. So, Jagan is considering Mopidevi’s name again, party sources said.