Evening Pulse: Andhra fixes who may run for mayor, but the alliance still hasn't said which party will

Since this morning, one of the two questions hanging over Andhra Pradesh's urban polls has been answered. The state has now said which social group can contest each mayor and chairperson post. It has not said which alliance party gets to field the candidate. That second answer did not come out of Monday's meeting at the Chief Minister's residence, and the State Election Commission meets parties on Tuesday with the clock running.

The Municipal Administration and Urban Development department issued GO 252 on Monday afternoon. Like Sunday's GO 251, it was signed by Principal Secretary S Suresh Kumar, and it sets reservations for the mayors of all 17 municipal corporations. Mangalagiri-Tadepalli goes to the Scheduled Tribes. Rajahmundry and Kurnool go to the Scheduled Castes, with Kurnool reserved for an SC woman. Machilipatnam and Kakinada are for BC women, and Eluru, Anantapur and Chittoor for BC candidates of either sex. Visakhapatnam, Guntur, Kadapa, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam will have women mayors from the general category. Vijayawada, Tirupati, Nellore and Ongole are open to all, Deccan Chronicle and Telugu360 reported.

A second order covered the chairpersons of 106 municipalities and nagar panchayats. BCs get 36 of those posts, half of them for women. SCs get 14 and STs three, and 27 posts are set aside for women in the general category. The remaining 26 are unreserved. Kuppam, the Chief Minister's own constituency, and Pithapuram, Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan's, both fall in the SC general category, according to Andhra Jyothy's list. Tenali is unreserved. Ward-level rosters are still to come from district collectors.

The lists change the seat-sharing talks. Some mayor posts that Telugu outlets had linked to Jana Sena, such as Kakinada and Machilipatnam, are now reserved for BC women, so any partner that gets them has to find a candidate who fits. Vijayawada and Tirupati, the posts reported to be under discussion for Jana Sena and the BJP, are open to anyone. Telugu360 noted that the YSRCP had already named Anam Vijay Kumar Reddy as its candidate for Nellore, which stays unreserved.

The alliance meeting flagged this morning did take place, but not in the form billed. Telugu Times and Telugu Post reported that Jana Sena's Nadendla Manohar and BJP state president PVN Madhav met at Chandrababu Naidu's residence on Monday evening. TDP state president Palla Srinivasa Rao and minister Nimmala Rama Naidu also attended, according to Telugu Times. Pawan Kalyan spent the day at a CII regional investment conference in Kakinada. According to Telugu Times, the leaders agreed that the 2024 Assembly seat formula would not be reused. Each partner would get priority where its local cadre is strong, and joint committees would be set up at district and constituency level. No allocation of mayor or chairperson posts was announced, and none of the three parties has confirmed one.

The YSRCP spent the afternoon preparing for the fight. At its Tadepalli office, state coordinator Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy told the heads of the party's affiliated wings to build up village-level units. He asked them to keep spare candidates ready for every seat, to get caste certificates and nomination papers in order early, and to record on video any obstruction by police or officials, ANI and the party reported. General secretary Aluru Sambasiva Reddy said about 14 lakh people are now part of the party's structure.

Devireddy Sivashankar Reddy, named as A5 in the 2019 murder of former minister YS Vivekananda Reddy, appeared before the Enforcement Directorate in Hyderabad, ETV Bharat and Andhra Jyothy reported. ETV Bharat said investigators are tracing an alleged Rs 40 crore deal behind the killing and the money that moved before and after it, including suspected hawala transfers. No outcome of the questioning had been reported by evening. Kadapa MP YS Avinash Reddy remains due before the agency on Wednesday.

In Kakinada, the second of five regional conferences ahead of next month's CII Partnership Summit in Visakhapatnam produced 15 memorandums of understanding worth about Rs 4,257 crore. According to a state press release carried by PTI, they could create more than 14,000 jobs across the five Godavari districts. These are commitments, not investments on the ground.