Congress names Andhra candidates, Sharmila to take on cousin in family bastion of Kadapa

The Congress released a list of five Lok Sabha and 114 Assembly candidates from the state on Tuesday, with its Andhra Pradesh chief Y S Sharmila all set for her electoral debut from the family bastion of Kadapa.

Sharmila, the daughter of former Congress chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy (YSR) and sister of YSR Congress party (YSRCP) chief Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, will take on her cousin Y S Avinash Reddy, who is accused of being involved in the alleged murder of their uncle Y S Vivekananda Reddy, and has been fielded by the YSRCP.

Andhra Pradesh will see simultaneous Assembly and Lok Sabha elections in the fourth phase on May 13.

The Kadapa Lok Sabha seat has been held by members of the YSR family since 1989. While YSR won the seat thrice (1989, 1991 and 1998), Vivekananda was victorious twice (1999 and 2004). Jagan was elected MP from the seat in 2009 and won the 2012 bypoll held for the seat as a YSRCP candidate. It has been held by Avinash since 2014.

The Congress’s decision to field Sharmila from Kadapa assumes significance as she has alleged that Vivekananda’s insistence on fielding her or her mother Y S Vijayalakshmi instead of Avinash from the seat led to his murder.

Vivekananda was found in a pool of blood in his house in Pulivendula on March 15, 2019, just ahead of the simultaneous Assembly and Lok Sabha polls at the time. The CBI, which is probing the case, had accused Avinash and his father Y S Bhaskar Reddy of hatching the murder conspiracy, erasing evidence and sheltering the accused, in its chargesheet.

The Congress has fielded former Union minister M M Pallam Raju from the Kakinada Lok Sabha seat, which he has won thrice in 1989, 2004 and 2009. He will be up against Chalamalasetti Sunil of the YSRCP and Uday