YSR Cong wave swamps TDP leaders' kin

Several Telugu Desam Party leaders' scions bit the dust in the general election in Andhra Pradesh, swamped by the YSR Congress wave.

Beginning with TDP chief Chandrababu Naidus son, Nara Lokesh, the gen-next of the TDP had to eat humble pie, signalling trouble for the 37-year-old outfit.

A few, however, beat the tide and emerged victorious.

Naidus son Lokesh fought his maiden electoral battle from Mangalagiri assembly segment in the capital region Amaravati but lost to sitting YSR Congress MLA Alla Ramakrishna Reddy by a margin of over 5,000 votes.

Incidentally, Lokesh, a member of the AP Legislative Council, chose not to quit his post to contest the assembly election, and has four more years to go.

Lokesh's relative Mathukumilli Bharat lost the Visakhapatnam parliamentary seat by a slender margin of over 4,414 votes.

Lokesh and Bharats father-in-law, film actor Nandamuri Balakrishna, however, managed to retain his Hindupur Assembly seat.

Kidari Sravan Kumar, an IAS aspirant-turned-politician and son of late Kidari Sarveswara Rao, lost from Araku valley.

Sarveswara Rao, who was sitting MLA from the segment, was gunned down by Maoists in September last year following which Sravan Kumar was inducted into the Cabinet as Health and Tribal Welfare Minister in November.

As per the Constitution, he should have got elected to the Legislature within six months but the election process overshot that period.

He had to quit the ministers post on May 10 since he could not fulfill the constitutional obligation.

However, the children of former Union Minister K Yerran Naidu emerged victorious.

Yerran Naidus son Rammohan Naidu, contesting his second election, retained the Srikakulam Lok Sabha seat by a narrow margin of 6,653 votes.

His sister A Bhavani, in her first contest, romped home by an impressive margin of over 30,000 votes in Rajamahendravaram (City) Assembly constituency.

Deputy Chief Minister K E Krishna Murthy opted out of the assembly contest to make way for his son Shyam Kumar in Pattikonda but the latter lost.

Even Murthys nephew K E Pratap lost in Dhone.

Minister Paritala Sunitha preferred to field her son Sriram from Raptadu after the party refused to give tickets to both.

He lost his first electoral fight.

P Aditi Vijayalakshmi, former Union Minister P Ashok Gajapathi Rajus daughter, made her electoral debut in their home turf Vizianagaram but failed to succeed.

Raju himself lost in Vizianagaram Lok Sabha constituency.

The TDP denied ticket to sitting Kurnool MLA S V Mohan Reddy, who defected three years ago from YSR Congress, and chose Rajya Sabha member T G Venkateshs son Bharat, going by 'favourable surveys.'