Botcha elected as MLC unanimously

Former Minister and YSRCP leader Botcha Satyanarayana has been elected as an MLC (local bodies in the combined Visakhapatnam district) as no other candidate is in the race after withdrawal of nominations.

Only two candidates, Botcha Satyanarayana and Shafi Ullah (independent), have filed nominations for the bypoll in Visakhapatnam, and the ruling TDP opted out of the contest as it has no required strength to win the seat. Of the two candidates, Shafi Ullah has withdrawn from contest paving the way for unanimous election of Botcha Satyanarayana.

The MLC seat has fallen vacant following resignation of Vamsikrishna Srinivas, who won it on the YSRCP ticket. However, he joined the Jana Sena Party before the general elections and has been elected to the Assembly from the Visakha South constituency necessitating by-election for the MLC seat.

Though several leaders from the YSRCP have tried for the party ticket to contest the bypoll, YSRCP chief Jagan Mohan Reddy has chosen Botcha Satyanarayana springing a surprise. Satyanarayana, who contested from the Cheepurupalli Assembly constituency in the general elections, faced a defeat.

The Telugu Desam Party, which recently made a clean sweep of GVMC standing committee elections by luring the YSRCP corporators, initially wanted to repeat the show in the MLC bypoll also.

However, party chief N Chandrababu Naidu, known for his shrewdness in politics, well aware of the fact that it would be a daunting task to upset the YSRCP applecart, has decided to stay away from the bypoll.

While the YSRCP has the support of over 550 local bodies representatives out of 838, the number of elected representatives belonging to the TDP is only about 250 and the gap is too wide to bridge. All these developments have favoured Botcha Satyanarayana in MLC bypoll, who at last, has the last laugh.

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This article is written by Senior Journalist Lakkoju Nagesh Babu