Tug of war between TDP and YSRCP over MLC seat

Vijayanagaram: Both the ruling TDP and opposition YSRCP are vying for the Visakhapatnam MLC seat under the local body quota. The seat fell vacant after MLC Vamsi Krishna Srinivas joined Jana Sena and won as MLA. The election for the seat will be held on August 30 and the counting of votes will be held on September 3. Local body representatives such as MPTC, ZPTC members, Municipal Councillors, GVMC Corporators under Visakhapatnam, Anakapalli and Alluri Sitaramaraju district will cast their votes for the MLC post. In fact, out of 841 votes, 11 seats are vacant due to various reasons and 615 votes are in favour of YSRCP and the rest are from TDP and its alliance parties BJP and JSP. As per the current situation, YSRCP has a clear lead to win the seat and party chief YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has announced senior leader Botcha Satyanarayana as the party candidate. On the other hand, TDP is yet to finalise the name of the candidate but Peela Govind (former MLA of Anakapalli) is expected to get the ticket. Sources say that TDP is luring voters (local body representatives) by offering some post and money for development activities in their areas. Recently, around 15 councillors of Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation switched their allegiance to TDP. The party is making all-out efforts to snatch the seat from YSRCP. Meanwhile, Botcha Satyanarayana is holding meetings with former YSRCP ministers Budi Mutyala Naidu, Gudivada Amarnath and MLAs Karanam Dharma Sri and others to garner support.