After announcing as many as six lists of party in-charges for various Lok Sabha and assembly seats in Andhra Pradesh over the last one month, YSR Congress party president and chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy is understood to have given a break to the announcement of candidates’ lists.
There is a talk in the party circles that there might not be much reshuffling or dropping of candidates further and the final list of candidates is more or less ready; hence, there is no further developments in that direction.
The six lists released by Jagan has triggered major ripples in the party as there were changes of more than 60 candidates in various constituencies, including around dropping of around 30 candidates.
Some of the disgruntled MLAs and MPs left the party and some others are still sulking. The party leadership is now struggling to appease the disgruntled candidates, who are resorting to virtual non-cooperation.
Latest talk going on in the party is that the chief minister might make drastic changes in the list of candidates in the last week of February, before announcing the final list of candidates for the assembly and Lok Sabha polls.
Some of the dropped MLAs might be back in the list and some others, who managed to retain their seats might face the axe.
“There are likely to be surprises in the final list of candidates. The changes would be made after seeing the lists of the TDP-Jana Sena Party combine as well,” a source said.
Apparently, Jagan is apprehensive that there is a possibility of these disgruntled and sulking MLAs cross-voting in favour of the TDP candidate in the Rajya Sabha elections, if the opposition party chooses to field any candidate despite not having enough numbers in the assembly.
“So, Jagan has to ensure that there would not be any resentment in the sitting MLAs or fear of them being dropped, at least till Rajya Sabha elections. Once the polling is over, if it is required, he will go in for major overhaul of the candidates’ list and announce the final list by month end,” sources added.