Two-time MLA and former minister Silpa Mohan Reddy will be contesting the Nandyal by-election as the YSR Congress Party candidate.
Party president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy on Sunday finalized the name of Mohan Reddy after prolonged discussions with the leaders of Kurnool district.
YSRCP also appointed Mohan Reddy as the party's Nandyal constituency coordinator.
The by-election for the Nandyal Assembly constituency was necessitated due to the demise of Bhuma Nagi Reddy in March this year. The election process may begin after the Presidential election in July.
Interestingly, Mohan Reddy, who won from the constituency under the leadership of the late Dr Y S Rajasekhar Reddy in 2004 and 2009 as a Congress candidate, lost the election in 2014 as a TDP candidate, by a small margin of 3,604 votes against the then YSRCP candidate Bhuma Nagi Reddy. Nagi Reddy then joined the Telugu Desam Party in February 2016, and the ruling party is now fielding his kin Bhuma Brahmananda Reddy in the by-election against Mohan Reddy who is now in the YSR Congress.
The YSRCP has bright chances of winning the seat back despite the ruling party's hopes to cash in on the sympathy for Bhuma Nagi Reddy. As the government failed to address the issues of the region in the past three years, a strong resentment is brewing among the voters, and that can help Silpa notch up an easy victory this time.
filed in:Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, Elections, By-Elections, TDP