Vijayamma's entry changes Vizag poll scene
Visakhapatnam: The entry of YSRCP honorary president YS Vijayalakshmi, more popular as Vijayamma, as a candidate for the Visakhapatnam Lok Sabha seat is bound to change the poll scene not only in Visakhapatnam district, but in the neighbourhood as well.
Her choice has not come as surprise since Visakhapatnam is the biggest city in Seemandhra next only to Hyderabad in the combined State. The names of Vijayamma as well as her daughter Sharmila were doing the rounds for quite some time.
Sharmila has been asked to concentrate on the tough Telangana part to test the waters and she is so busy there that she may not find time to contest at all, it is said.
Vijayamma's main rival will be BJP. Though the candidate has not been finalised yet, it is most likely to be Seemandhra party president Kambhampati Haribabu. In case he doesn't, it will be one of the two former Union Ministers Daggubati Purandeswari or Kavuri Sambasiva Rao.
The Congress has not decided on its candidate since no senior is ready to enter the fray in the constituency which needs lot of money and muscle power to even make a fight of it. The YSRCP is already ahead of the rest since it had finalised the candidates for each Assembly segment. Monday's list contained only those names.
Vamsikrishna Srinivas Yadav (Vizag East), Kola Guruvulu (Vizag South), Chokkakula Venkata Rao (Vizag North) and Dadi Ratnakar (Vizag West).
Karri Sitaramu has been an exception. A late entrant in Bheemunipatnam, he was inducted as the party feared that the original coordinator Korada Rajababu might not live up to expectations. The old war horse Tippala Nagi Reddy is raring to go in the industrial belt of Gajuwaka and R Jagannadham will contest from Srungavarapukota.
Srungavarapukota is in Vizianagaram district, but is one of the seven Assembly segments under Vizag LS constituency. Vijayamma campaigning here is sure to have its influence in Vizianagaram district where even the DCC president Kolagatla Veerabhadraswamy himself left the party a few days ago to join YSRCP to get re-nomination.
News Posted: 15 April, 2014
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