VIJAYAWADA: Living up to its reputation of being a bastion of the YSR Congress (YSRC), the four districts of Rayalaseema and the South Coastal district of Nellore handed a huge majority to Jagan Mohan Reddy. Cutting across caste lines, the dominant Reddys of Nellore and other parts of Rayalaseema, the backward communities like Kuruba and Boya communities in Anantapur gave an overwhelming majority to YSRC.
Out of the total 62 Assembly seats in the five districts, the YSRC bagged 59. Not just the Assembly seats, Jagan’s party has won all the nine Parliamentary seats. In Chandrababu Naidu’s Chittoor district, the TDP had to contend with just one seat, that of Kuppam.
If one goes by district-wise analysis, the YSRC has swept Nellore district, winning all the 10 Assembly seats. A stronghold of Congress for long, Nellore district gave good results for YSRC in 2014 as well. This time around, however, it was the bull’s eye. In Nellore, the TDP has made all attempts to gain a foothold by luring YSRC leaders into its fold but failed to make much impact on the prospects of the party.
Another district that gave a clear mandate to YSRC is Kadapa, the bastion of the party and YS family. All efforts of the TDP to improve its numbers in the district proved futile and it lost the only seat it had won in the last elections. TDP’s hurried announcement to set up a steel plant on its own in the district and also pitting heavyweights like P Ramasubba Reddy and Ch Adinarayana Reddy against the YSRC failed to dent its chances in the district.
On the other hand, the YSRC has made inroads into segments like Jammalamadugu with its MLA candidate M Sudheer Reddy and Kadapa MP candidate YS Avinash Reddy frequently visiting the sensitive villages even as they faced stiff opposition. With this, they could make presence of the party felt in areas dominated by individuals rather than a party.
In Kurnool district, the YSRC routed bigwigs like former Union minister and Kurnool strongman Kotla Suryaprakash Reddy.
Playing the caste card to perfection, the YSRC leadership gave priority to the backward communities like Kuruba and Valmiki in Anantapur district, rattling the TDP’s apple cart.
With this strategy coupled with the dissatisfaction among the electorate over lack of development, the YSRC could almost reverse the figures in the district.
While it had won just two seats, losing 12 in 2014, this time it has won 12 of the 14 seats, leaving just two to the TDP. Nandamuri Balakrishna won the Hindupur seat from this district.
People of this drought-prone area were deprived of irrigation water facility and the TDP, in its five years of governance, failed to complete the remaining 5 per cent of works of the Handri-Neeva project which would have provided water facility to lakhs of acres of cultivable land. The YSRC made completion of the Handri-Neeva an election plank and reaped dividends.
‘Puli’vendula Assembly constituency pocket borough of YSR family
Vijayawada: Pulivendula Assembly constituency in Kadapa district is a pocket borough of YSR family. YSR Congress chief YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has continued the family legacy by winning the seat once again with a thumping majority. Jagan won from Pulivendula with a record majority of 90,543 votes, surpassing his victory margin of 75,263 in 2014 elections. Former Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy won from Pulivendula constituency six times since 1978, while his brother YS Vivekananda Reddy represented it twice. After Rajasekhara Reddy became Chief Minister in 2004, the fate of the Assembly constituency changed. YSR executed several development works in Pulivendula and completed the Gandikota project. Following the sudden demise of YSR, his wife YS Vijayamma was elected from Pulivendula. In 2014 elections, Vijayamma contested from Visakhapatnam Lok Sabha constituency and suffered a defeat. Jagan Mohan Reddy, who contested from Pulivendula in 2014 elections, won the seat comfortably. He continued his winning streak and secured a record margin this time around.