TDP to play BC card in Parliamentary polls

TDP boss N. Chandrababu Naidu is keen on picking BC candidates for the upcoming Parliament polls. He had been searching for the BC candidates since long and with the polls drawing near, it has intensified.

TDP’s poll strategist Robin Sharma is also busy on the job. However, it is not clear about how many seats the TDP would allocate to the Jana Sena, as part of the alliance.

Though the TDP will have to lose 5 seats to the Jana Sena, from all the remaining 20 places, the TDP would field candidates. Of these, it is being expected that Naidu would field BC candidates from at least 10 constituencies.

According to party sources, surveys are being held to zero in on BC candidates in Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam in North Andhra, Vijayawada, Nellore, Ongole and Rajampet, Hindupur, Anantapur, Narasaraopet and Guntur constituencies. It is being speculated that all the three incumbents in the TDP constituencies would also be replaced with new candidates.

In Vijayawada, Kesineni has been thrown out of the party and there is information that his brother Kesineni Sivadhar would be fielded in the fray. In Guntur, a new candidate has to be chosen. Similarly, in Srikakulam, MP Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu would be shifted to Narsipatnam. Moreover, he had made it clear to his party boss that he would like to contest as an MLA rather than as MP.

This makes it clear that except those constituencies foregone for the Jana Sena, from all other places, new candidates would be fielded. Naidu is of the opinion to bring in strong candidates belonging to the BC community, as it is mandatory to field them to strike a balance of the caste equations.

It is known fact that BCs comprise half of the population in the state.