It is all official. IT and Panchayat Raj Minister Nara Lokesh is going to be in fray in the general elections 2019. Lokesh will be contesting for Mangalagiri Assembly constituency. Telugu Desam Party has decided to field Lokesh from Mangalagiri.
Although the names of Bheemili, Vizag North Assembly constituencies were considered, finally TDP chief Chandrababu has finalized Mangalagiri as the constituency for Lokesh.
Currently, YSRCP’s Alla Rama Krishna Reddy is representing the constituency. He had defeated TDP’s Ganji Chiranjeevi by meager 12 votes in 2014 general elections. Mangalagiri constituency had witnessed the dominance of Congress prior to 2014. Last time, TDP’s candidate (Koteswara Rao) won from Mangalagiri was in 1985.
With this, the fight for Mangalagiri turned interesting. As the constituency falls under Capital Region, it has to be seen whether Lokesh’s electoral debut will be a big success or not. It can be noted that Lokesh who didn’t fight 2014 elections was nominated as MLC and subsequently inducted into Chandrababu’s cabinet.