4 ex-Union ministers get TDP nomination

The TDP late on Monday night released the final and complete list of candidates for 25 Lok Sabha seats and the remaining 36 Assembly seats after thorough scrutiny.

With this, the ruling party put an end to speculation and set the campaign in a smooth motion.

The Lok Sabha list included names of four former Union ministers: Kotla Surya Prakash Reddy from Kurnool, Vairicharla Kishore Chandra Deo from Araku, Panabaka Lakshmi from Tirupati and Ashok Gajapathi Raju from Vizianagaram.

Party chief Chandrababu Naidu also nominated two of his cabinet ministers as Lok Sabha candidates: Adinarayana Reddy from Kadapa and Sidha Raghava Rao from Ongole.

Galla Jayadev from Guntur, K Rammohan Naidu from Srikakulam and N Siva Prasad from Chittoor-SC, who had spoken about the Special Category Status in Parliament, were nominated once again.

The final list of Assembly candidates had a few surprises, with sitting MLAs Meesala Geetha, Yamini Bala, Chand Basha, M Srinivasa Rao, and S V Mohan Reddy having been denied tickets.

The Bhuma family from the Kurnool district got two tickets with the TDP chief giving the Nandyala Assembly seat to Bhuma Brahmanda Reddy and Bhuma Akhila Priya, the state tourism minister, who represents Allagadda.

Aditi, daughter of former aviation minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju, was allocated the Vizianagaram Assembly seat.

The AICC also released its list of candidates for Andhra Pradesh on Monday night in New Delhi.

However, the Congress has kept the crucial Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam and Nandyala seats in abeyance.

Out of the 22 Lok Sabha candidates who secured nominations are former minister of state for defence Pallam Raju, former MPs J D Seelam for the Bapatla-SC, Kanumuri Bapiraju for Narsapuram and Chinta Mohan from Tirupati-SC.

The party, however, kept the nomination for Peeleru Assembly, which was earlier represented by former chief minister of united Andhra Pradesh Nallari Kirankumar Reddy, in abeyance.

Janasena chief Pawan Kalyan also released the party's third list without his name in it.

It is said that he will be contesting from Gajuwaka in Visakhapatnam and Bhimavaram in East Godavari district, just like his brother K Chiranjeevi did during the Praja Rajyam Party days.

Janasena released a list of 13 Assembly seats, with one change from its earlier list and one Lok Sabha seat on Monday night.