: Former Union Minister Daggubati Purandeswari and BJP state unit president Kanna Lakshminarayana are the only two candidates whose names the Bharatiya Janata Party announced in its first list Thursday for the April 11 Lok Sabha election in Andhra Pradesh.
BJPs two sitting MPs - Kambhampati Haribabu (Visakhapatnam) and Gokaraju Ganga Raju (Narsapuram) - have not been re-nominated as they chose not to contest the elections again, according to party sources.
Purandeswari will contest from Visakhapatnam, a seat she won in 2009 as a Congress nominee, while Kanna will be contesting the Lok Sabha poll for the first time from Narsaraopeta.
Though his name has not been officially announced, former state minister P Manikyala Rao is getting ready to file his nomination from Narsapuram parliamentary constituency on Friday.
As there are practically two more days left for filing of nominations, its not clear whether or not the BJP will name its candidates for the other seats in the state.
Purandeswari won for the first time from Bapatla in 2004 and shifted to Visakhapatnam in 2009 after her seat was reserved for the Scheduled Caste in the delimitation.
In 2014, she quit the Congress and joined the BJP.
The party fielded her from Rajampet in Kadapa district, much against her wishes, and she lost.
With Haribabu opting out, line became clear for her to return to her favourite seat.
A five-time Congress MLA, Kanna Lakshminarayana joined the BJP after losing the 2014 election.
Last year, he was made the party state president.
This time, he preferred to contest the parliamentary election and accordingly chose Narsaraopet.
He will face his bte noire Rayapati Sambasiva Rao of the TDP, the sitting MP.
Manikyala Rao was elected to the state Assembly for the first time from Tadepalligudem.
He reportedly did not show interest to contest the 2019 general election but with Ganga Raju opting out, the party reportedly chose Rao for the Narsapuram contest.
In 2014, the BJP contested five out of 25 Lok Sabha seats in the Andhra Pradesh in alliance with the TDP and won two.
This time, it is fighting the election on its own as the alliance broke a year ago.
The names of the candidates for Andhra Pradesh were part of the first list of 184 nominees for Lok Sabha polls announced by senior BJP leader J P Nadda in Delhi Thursday evening.
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