The massive exercise undertaken by YSR Congress party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy in changing the candidates contesting the coming assembly elections is causing jitters among the party leaders.
Even the strongest loyalists of the party and trusted lieutenants of Jagan are in a state of uncertainty over their seats, as he is reshuffling their constituencies and dropping many of them.
Even as the talk of dropping sitting MLA from Gudivada and former minister Kodali Nani is doing rounds in the party, yet another loyalist of Jagan, state irrigation minister Ambati Rambabu is said to be facing the threat of being dropped from the list of candidates.
According to sources, the I-PAC team is said to be conducting a quick survey in the party over the victory chances of Ambati in Sattenapalli and whether the people wanted him to contest the elections again.
The reason for this sudden survey is that Jagan is contemplating fielding another party leader Pinnelli Venkatarami Reddy from Sattenapalli. This candidate is said to be the brother of YSRC MLA Pinnelli Ramakrishna Reddy, representing adjacent constituency of Macherla.
Apparently, Ramakrishna Reddy is seriously lobbying for the party ticket for his brother. Added to this, there have been negative reports about Ambati and the people are not happy with him.
So, under the instructions from Jagan, the I-PAC team is said to be conducting an online survey to find out whether the party cadre wants Ambati to continue or support Venkatarami Reddy; apart from the perception of the local people.
Jagan has also got the reports from the ground level that the local YSRCP leaders themselves are strongly opposing Ambati’s candidature. It would be interesting to see whether Ambati will succeed in retaining his seat, or concede it to Pinnelli family.
