By IANS,
Hyderabad : Former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy’s wife Vijayalakshmi Tuesday filed her nomination for the by-election to Pulivendula assembly seat in Kadapa district.
The by-election to be held Dec 19 is necessitated by Rajasekhara Reddy’s death. YSR, as he was popularly known, died in a helicopter crash Sep 2.
Accompanied by her son and Kadapa MP Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy, her brother and Kadapa mayor Ravindernath Reddy, YSR’s brother Y.S. Vivekanand Reddy and state minister G. Aruna Kumari, Vijayalakshmi filed her nomination papers before the returning officer at Pulivendula.
Before filing the nomination, she along with her son and other family members visited YSR’s grave. Sitting by the side of the grave, Vijayalakshmi broke down and was consoled by her son.
Meanwhile, Lok Satta has announced that it would field a candidate against YSR’s wife, thus ruling out the possibility of her getting elected unopposed.
The main opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Praja Rajyam Party, Communist Party of India-Marxist(CPI-M) have already announced that they would not contest to facilitate her unanimous election.
However, a day before the last date of filing of nominations, Lok Satta announced that it would contest the Dec 19 by-election.
Though Vijayalakshmi was reluctant to contest and YSR’s family wanted ticket for Jaganmohan Reddy, they had to abide by the decision of Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
The party leadership, which has already turned down the demand from YSR loyalists to make Jaganmohan Reddy the chief minister, told him to continue as the Kadapa MP.
Pulivendula is the pocket borough of YSR’s family. YSR, who was elected from this constituency six times and also represented the Kadapa Lok Sabha seat, held the record of never losing an election in his political career.