The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Assembly will have many new faces

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, May 17, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Assembly will have many new faces

By V.N. Harinath

HYDERABAD, MAY 16. A little less than half of the newly-elected members of the 294-strong Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly are fresh faces, thanks to the landslide victory scored by the Congress and the Telangana Rashtra Samiti combine in the just concluded elections. Nearly 90 youngsters of the Congress are making their debut.

Some of the younger MLAs-elect, including several Independents and representatives of various other parties, have succeeded either in their second or third attempt to enter the August House.

The youngsters include G. Muralirama Krishna, who emerged as a giant-killer by upsetting, upsetting Kotagiri Vidyadhar Rao, a senior Minister in the N. Chandrababu Naidu Cabinet and a six-time legislator from Chintalapudi in West Godavari district. Another youth who emulated Murali Krishna was Kondru Murali Mohan, leader of the Youth Congress, who toppled K. Pratibha Bharathi, Speaker in the dissolved Assembly, from Etcherla (SC) constituency.

Among the newcomers are over 22 members of the TRS which made its debut in the 2004 general elections. Although the Telugu Desam Party lost over 130 seats in three regions of the State in the Congress wave, it still managed to bring into the Assembly 14 first-timers, three women among them, in 47 constituencies. The BJP, which suffered its worst defeat in three elections, barely managed to win two seats--Himayatnagar in Hyderabad city and Pithapuram bringing in two freshers, G. Kishan Reddy and P. Dora Babu.

The Communist Party of India(Marxist), which performed impressively in 1985 in alliance with the TDP, repeated its feat in 2004 winning nine of the 15 seats it contested. Seven of them are newcomers. The CPI has sent six representatives to the Assembly and all but one are making their maiden appearance now.

Among women first-timers are Kotla Sujata, daughter-in-law of former Chief Minister, K. Vijayabhaskar Reddy, G. Charita Reddy (Congress), Sara Rani (TRS), A. Sridevi (TDP) and D.K. Aruna (Samajwadi Party).

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Andhra Pradesh