The Jana Sena Party (JSP) on Sunday announced Vamsi Krishna Yadav as its candidate for the Visakhapatnam South Assembly constituency.
JSP leader and actor Pawan Kalyan finalised the name of Yadav, a former member of the Legislative Council, as the party candidate.
Yadav quit the ruling YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) in December last year to join JSP, following which he was disqualified as MLC. He had been associated with Pawan Kalyan since 2009 when the former was active in Yuva Rajyam, the youth wing of Praja Rajyam Party (PRP) which was floated by Pawan Kalyan’s elder brother and popular actor Chiranjeevi.
Yadav had contested unsuccessfully for the Assembly on a PRP ticket from the Visakhapatnam East constituency in 2009. He later joined the YSRCP and contested unsuccessfully from the same seat in 2014.
With Yadav’s candidature, the JSP has announced candidates for 19 out of 21 Assembly seats it is contesting in alliance with the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The party is yet to announce candidates for Avanigadda and Palakonda Assembly seats.
The JSP has already announced candidates for the Kakinada and Machilipatnam Lok Sabha seats.
Meanwhile, Pawan Kalyan continued his visit to the Pithapuram Assembly constituency, from where he is contesting the May 13 election. He offered prayers at a local temple and later addressed a meeting of NDA partners.
Urging leaders and workers of all three parties to work hard for the next 40 days to bring the alliance to power, he reiterated that ending the “evil rule” of the YSRCP is his only goal. The actor said he joined the alliance for the sake of the state’s interests and exuded confidence that the alliance will come to power.
Simultaneous elections to the 175-member Assembly and 25 Lok Sabha seats are scheduled on May 13.
Under the seat-sharing agreement among NDA partners, the TDP is contesting 144 Assembly and 17 Lok Sabha seats. The BJP is fielding candidates in 10 Assembly and six Lok Sabha constituencies.
