Daughter fights father in AP's Araku (ST) LS seat

A daughter takes on her father in the Araku (ST) constituency of Andhra Pradesh during the first phase of Lok Sabha elections on April 11.

Congress' V Shruti Devi is pitted against her father V Kishore Chandra Deo of the TDP.

Deo, who had been a Lok Sabha member for six terms, joined the Telugu Desam Party recently, severing his four-decade-old bond with the Congress.

The Congress fielded Deos daughter Shruti as its nominee from the same seat that he lost in 2014.

A practising lawyer, Shruti recalled that he worked for her father and the Congress for many years.

"Its in recognition of my services that the Congress gave me the ticket," she said after filing her nomination Thursday.

Shruti did not speak anything about fighting her father in the election but exuded confidence that she would win.

On the other hand, P Aditi Vijayalakshmi is in the fray for the Assembly from Vizianagaram as the next-Gen leader from the royal Gajapathi Raju family.

Her father Ashok Gajapathi Raju is contesting the Lok Sabha poll from Vizianagaram as TDP candidate for the second time.

Aditi made a clear choice when her father asked her if she was interested in contesting the election as the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) was keen on fielding her.

"I told her politics is not all rosy and she should be prepared for brickbats as well.

She said she was ready and I communicated that to the party," Raju, former Civil Aviation minister, said.

Accordingly, Aditi, a post-graduate in psychology, has been given the Assembly ticket from their stronghold Vizianagaram.

As per his interest, Raju has been re-nominated for the Lok Sabha election from Vizianagaram, the seat he first won in 2014.

TDP chief and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu visited Vizianagaram Thursday and campaigned for the father-daughter duo.