The YSRCP on Saturday night announced candidates for nine Lok Sabha seats in Andhra Pradesh. YSRCP president Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy has once again fielded his cousin Y S Avinash Reddy from Kadapa seat, which the latter won in 2014. Sitting MP P Mithun Reddy will contest again from Rajampeta constituency. The remaining candidates are new.
Gorantla Madhav, who quit his police job to join the YSRCP recently, will contest from Hindupur. The other candidates are Chinta Anuradha (Amalapuram), N Suresh (Bapatla), Sanjiv Kumar (Kurnool), N Redappa (Chittoor), T Rangaiah (Anantapur) and G Madhavi (Araku).
Meanwhile, in a related development, Gedela Srinibabu, who was announced as Jana Sena Party's candidate for the Visakhapatnam MP seat, defected to the YSRCP on Saturday.
Jagan Mohan Reddy will announce candidates for remaining Lok Sabha and Assembly seats on Sunday at Idupulapaya in Kadapa district before launching his party's campaign.
Earlier this week, addressing a rally in Kakinada town in East Godavari district, Jagan promised to provide a corruption-free term and good governance.
Jagan, as the Leader of Opposition is popularly known, called upon people to teach a lesson to the ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP), which he said, failed to fulfill the promises made in previous elections. He alleged that the TDP harmed the interests of the state by continuing as an ally of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for four years.
The YSRCP leader alleged that the TDP compromised with the Centre over Andhra Pradesh being granted special category status, a promise that was made during bifurcation of the state. He said the TDP government was neck-deep in corruption and urged people to use the power of vote for a "silent" burial of the TDP.
Simultaneous elections to the Andhra Pradesh Assembly and the Lok Sabha are scheduled on April 11 in the first phase. A main contender for power, YSRCP has decided to contest all 175 Assembly and 25 Lok Sabha seats on its own.
IANS inputs