Andhra bypolls on May 29, others a week earlier

Elections to four Lok Sabha seats — Karimnagar, Hanamkonda, Warangal and Adilabad — and 18 Assembly seats in Andhra Pradesh would be held on May 29. The bypolls to 16 seats were necessitated by the resignation of TRS MLAs on March 3, while bypolls to Khairtabad and Therlam will be held due to the demise of the legislators P Janardhan Reddy and T Jayaprakash. The 16 Assembly seats are Jadcherla, Vikarabad(SC), Musheerabad, Secunderabad, Siddipet, Dommat, Ramayampet, Yellareddey, Dichpalli, Khanapur(ST), Myadaram(SC), Huzurabad, Kamalapur, Cheriyal, Ghanpur(SC) and Alair (SC). The TRS members had resigned from both Houses last month in support of their demand for carving out a separate Telangana state.

The bypolls have already heated up the political scene in Andhra. It began with the appointment of D Srinivas, a detractor of CM Dr Y S R Reddy, as APCC chief. On Tuesday, Srinivas held a meeting with Civil Supplies Minister K Venketa Krishna Reddy and Agriculture Marketing Minister M Mareppa to discuss the price rise issue much to the displeasure of the CM. Srinivas, a staunch Telangana supporter, also said the party will have a separate development agenda irrespective of the Government’s own agenda.

Meanwhile, TDP Chandrababu Naidu’s meeting with actor Balkrishna, son of former chief minister N T Rama Rao, has also set off rumours of his impending jump into politics. The TDP is learnt to be hobnobbing with the actor to offset any damage in case Telugu superstar Chiranjeevi decides to launch his own party.