Now that it has become officially clear that the Jana Sena Party has dropped out in favour of its alliance partner BJP in the by-elections to Tirupati parliamentary constituency, the obvious question that comes up is who will contest the by-election on behalf of the BJP.
According to party sources, the BJP has already prepared a list of contenders for the Tirupati by-polls, much before it brought pressure on the Jana Sena Party to withdraw from the race for the seat.
Sources said as many as 27 candidates had applied for the BJP ticket from Tirupati and the list was forwarded to the party national leadership. After scrutinising all the applications, the party has shortlisted four names, they said.
Among the short-listed candidates, two are retired IAS officers – Dasari Srinivasulu and Ratna Prabha (former chief secretary of Karnataka); one is a retired IPS officer – Krishna Prasad and the fourth one is a contractor in Tirupati – Muni Subrahmanyam.
The BJP national leadership has taken into consideration the educational and financial background of the candidates, before short-listing them, since the educated voters constitute a large percentage of the electorate in Tirupati.
However, the chances of Muni Subrahmanyam getting the party ticket appear to be bright, as he is a local leader and is a known face. He is also the state BJP Dalit Morcha general secretary. The remaining three -- Dasari Srinivasulu, Ratna Prabha and Krishna Prasad are non-locals.
In all probability, the BJP leadership will announce the name within hours of the announcement of election schedule, sources added.