The Hindu : Naxal threat may hamper TDP campaign

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Mar 09, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Guntur

Naxal threat may hamper TDP campaign

By Ramesh Susarla

GUNTUR, MARCH 8. Pedakurapadu, one of the biggest Assembly constituencies in the district, is dependent mostly on dryland commercial crops with cotton and chilli being the dominant ones and paddy extensively sown in wetlands with assured irrigation from the Nagarjunasagar right canal.

At a time when the Pulichintala project is the focal point of debate between political leaders from the Telangana and Krishna delta region, the need for the irrigation reservoir is getting strengthened with no water flowing in the right canal due to reduced levels in Nagarjunasagar. The hypersensitive constituency with regard to naxalite activity is spread over Pedakurpadu, Achampeta, Krosuru, Bellamkonda, Rajupalem mandals in full and parts of Amaravathi, Nakrekal and Sattenapalli mandals. Traditionally a Congress stronghold, naxalite activity makes canvassing all the more difficult for the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in the villages in view of the open threat to the party leaders.

The number of voters has come down from 1,87,999 in 1999 to 1,84,174 after weeding out the bogus votes in the latest revision of electoral rolls with about 94,000 women having voting right, compared with about 90,000 men.

The Congress has won six out of 10 elections held since 1955 when the constituency was formed and the TDP won in 1983 and 1985. In a hat-trick, the former Congress Minister, Kanna Lakshminarayana, has won every election since 1989 and is all geared to represent the constituency for the fourth time.

In the TDP wave in 1983, the party's candidate, Allamsetti Visweswara Rao, defeated Ganapa Ramaswami Reddy of the Congress by more than 20,000 votes and in 1985 Kasaraneni Sadasiva Rao was victorious by a margin of 7,830 votes over Mahboob Sayed of the Congress. While Mr. Kanna Lakshminarayana, a follower of the former Chief Minister, Nedurmalli Janardhana Reddy, got about 12,000 majority over Mr. Sadasiva Rao and Mr. Venna Sambasiva Reddy of the TDP in the 1989 and 1994 elections, respectively, the victory margin came down to 2,848 votes in 1999. Mr. Lakshminarayana, who held the Sports and Youth Welfare and Labour portfolios in the Janardhana Reddy and Kotla Vijaybhaskara Reddy ministries, is being sounded by the party leaders for contesting from the Guntur-I constituency to take on the former Telugu Desam MLA, S.M. Ziauddin, so that it would help the party candidate for the Parliamentary constituency, Rayapati Sambasiva Rao. This is expected to have an impact on the outcome of the Guntur-II constituency.

The Congress strongman from Pedakurapadu is, however, determined to fight it out from the same constituency. The success of the recent public meeting of the former CLP leader, Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, organised by him at Patibandla village is a measure of his popularity. Supporters voluntarily came from every nook and corner of the constituency.

In the Telugu Desam camp, the candidature of Venna Sambasiva Reddy is doubtful with his poor performance in the last two elections, but the party got a breather in the form of the victory it registered in the recent Panchayat Raj elections. The other probable candidates are Venigalla Vijayalakshmi, ZPTC member from Pedakurapadu, and N. Hanumaiah, a contractor.

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