Former Union Ministers Pallam Raju and JD Seelam were among five candidates named by the Congress’ Central Election Committee on Tuesday, April 2 for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. Raju and Seelam will be fielded respectively from the Kakinada and Bapatla (SC) constituencies in Andhra Pradesh.
Andhra Pradesh Congress chief YS Sharmila Reddy will contest from Kadapa, where her cousin YS Avinash Reddy, also an accused in the murder of former Kadapa MP YS Vivekananda Reddy, is seeking re-election for a third term on a YSR Congress Party ticket.
Congress Working Committee (CWC) special invitee Gidugu Rudraraju will contest from the Rajamahendravaram Lok Sabha constituency, while PG Rampullaiah Yadav has been fielded from Kurnool. Pallam Raju, who was elected from Kakinada in 1989, 2004, and 2009, served as the Union Minister of State for Defence from 2006 to 2012, and as the Union HRD Minister in the UPA I and UPA II governments.
JD Seelam, who was the Union Minister of State for Finance between 2013 and 2014 in the Manmohan Singh-led government, will contest from Bapatla, a seat reserved for Scheduled Castes.
The Congress also announced the names of 114 candidates for the Assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh.
The Congress has been without an MLA or MP in Andhra Pradesh for the last 10 years. The party was wiped out in 2014 due to the public anger over the bifurcation of combined Andhra Pradesh to create the Telangana state. There was no change in its fortunes in 2019, as the party once again drew a blank in simultaneous polls.
In January, the Congress appointed Sharmila Reddy, the sister of Chief Minister and YSR Congress Party President YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, as the President of the party’s state unit.
Sharmila, who is the daughter of united Andhra Pradesh’s former Chief Minister late YS Rajasekhara Reddy, has been entrusted with the task of reviving the party in the state.
She will be making her electoral debut from the Kadapa Lok Sabha seat, which the YSR family has been representing without a break since 1989.