It appears political leaders are not very much interested in contesting Lok Sabha elections these days, especially among the regional parties.
While one reason could be that contesting the Lok Sabha elections has become too costly as one has to spend four to five times of what he can spend in the assembly polls.
Another reason could be the party leadership is asking the MP candidates to bear the expenditure of MLAs also.
And thirdly, the MPs have no chance of making quick money to recover their election expenditure, as is the case of the MLAs. This is basically because the situation of making money by the MPs has become very tight during the Narendra Modi government.
In Andhra Pradesh, we are witnessing such a scenario, as the ruling YSR Congress party is facing difficulty in finding the right candidates for Lok Sabha elections, as everybody is keen on contesting the assembly elections.
Except a few candidates like Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy of Ongole, M Gurumurthy of Tirupati or Lavu Krishna Devarayalu of Narsaraopet, there were virtually no takers for the YSRC MP tickets.
And those who are ready to contest the elections were not given tickets, because they were not ready to fund the party or bear the election expenditure of the MLA candidates.
In Telangana, too, the Bharat Rashtra Samithi is said to be facing a similar situation. The party is not getting much response from the leaders for contesting the general elections.
Even worse, candidates for the Lok Sabha polls, whose names have already been announced at various party meetings by the BRS leadership, are learnt to be developing cold feet. They are either not sure of their victory or not willing to spend huge money in the elections.
According to reports, Chevella MP G Ranjith Reddy, who was the first one to be officially announced as the BRS candidate again, is learnt to have conveyed to party president K Chandrasekhar Rao that he is not interested in contesting the elections.
Reason is that the defection of former minister Patnam Mahender Reddy, along with his wife and Vikarababad zilla parishad chairperson Sunitha into the Congress made the election tough for him. Added to this, BJP is fielding former MP Konda Vishweshwar Reddy, another strong candidate.
Apparently realising that the fight would be between the Congress and the BJP, Ranjith Reddy has decided against contesting, as he felt that it would be waste of money and resources, sources said.
Similarly, Nama Nageswara Rao, the MP from Khammam, and P Ramulu from Nagarkurnool are also not keen on contesting for Lok Sabha again. In fact, Ramulu is learnt to have plans to defect to the Congress.
Though the BRS leadership is planning to field sitting MP B B Patil from Zaheerabad, he is also not said to be keen to contest on health grounds. In other constituencies, too, the BRS is said to be facing the candidates’ crunch.