The Hindu : Constituency of political heavyweights

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Mar 03, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Constituency of political heavyweights

By D. Srinivasulu

KURNOOL DISTRICT, considered the gateway of Rayalaseema, has many distinctions to its credit, politically. It has contributed a President, a Prime Minister and a Speaker to the nation and three chief ministers to the State.

The district comprises 13 Assembly and two Lok Sabha constituencies. Seven Assembly segments -- Kurnool, Kodumur, Dhone, Pathikonda, Yemmiganur, Adoni and Aluru -- fall under Kurnool parliament seat while Nandikotkur, Atmakur, Nandyal, Allagadda, Koilkuntla and Panyam from the district and Giddalur in Prakasam constitute the Nandyal parliamentary constituency. Alur and Kodumur are reserved for SCs.

A quick look at the political history of the district reveals that more than the political parties, ideologies and electoral agenda, individuals have influenced the election result.

Many leaders who have made it big in Kurnool politics have had a chequered career of changing parties with the rare exception of Kotla Vijayabhaskar Reddy. Yet battles won or lost is the same for many leaders.

The Telugu Desam Party dug strong roots in its first election itself by winning eight out of 13 seats reducing the Congress to four. Except in the 1989 election, when the Congress won nine, the TDP established a clear lead over the Congress.

In the 1999 Assembly elections, the TDP secured 10 seats while the Congress won three including two reserved constituencies. In the last Lok Sabha election, Kotla Vijayabhaskar Reddy (Congress) lost to K.E. Krishna Murthy (TDP) with a margin of 24,487 votes. In Nandyal Lok Sabha constituency, Bhuma Nagi Reddy won over Gangula Pratap Reddy with a majority of 72,609.

The winds of change are blowing across the district in the present elections the arch rivals -- TDP and Congress -- are feeling the pinch. The Congress is facing the first election in the absence of Kotla Vijayabhaskar Reddy, who successfully made the party politics turn around him in the last three decades. Disappointed ticket seekers are likely to embarrass the party nominees as independents. The mechanism to mollify such elements is absent in the present disposition.

The situation in the TDP camp is no better. Infighting in the ruling party has peaked to an all time high. Party leaders are divided into two groups. Mr. Krishna Murthy, his brother K. E. Prabhakar and Ministers -- B.V. Mohan Reddy, N. Md. Farooq and Somisetty Venkateswarlu -- on the one side and Bhuma Nagi Reddy, S.V. Subba Reddy and T.G. Venkatesh on the other. The caste consciousness among BCs has been roused for the first time. The Congress party admitted the former IPS officer, T. Srinivasulu, and the former MP at Nandyal, G. Pratap Reddy. Problems faced by the farming community in the district are likely to dominate the election campaign.

Failure of major irrigation systems will put the ruling party in defence. The alliance between the Congress and the Left parties will not be a major factor except in Kurnool and Pathikonda from where the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Communist Party of India plan to contest.

The president of NTR TDP, N. Laxmi Parvathi, is planning to contest from Atmakur with Congress help.

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