The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : All eyes on West Godavari

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Apr 29, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

All eyes on West Godavari

By G. Nagaraja

ELURU, APRIL 28. Strange as it may sound, the fate of political parties in this election can be predicted by following the trend of a single district -- West Godavari. Since the advent of the two-party system in the State with the emergence of the Telugu Desam Party in 1983, this district has been a crystal-gazer's dream.

The politically sensitive district is known for its extreme loyalty-swings. Past results indicate that the party that came to power in the State got the lion's share of seats in the district.

In the 1983 election in which the fledgling TDP of N.T. Rama Rao rode to power by trouncing the Congress, 16 Assembly constituencies of the district went to TDP. Chintalapudi, from where the Minister for Major Industries, Kotagiri Vidyadhara Rao, got elected as an independent was the sole exception. The Congress drew blank in that election.

In the 1985 election, when the NTR government was toppled by an internal coup, the district sent 15 TDP candidates to the Assembly. Achanta went to TDP's ally, the CPI(M). The Congress again failed to open its account here. Come 1989 election and the district reflected the anti-establishment mood, giving the Congress seven out of 16 Assembly segments. Interestingly, that election paved the way for the Congress to come to power, with Marri Channa Reddy at its helm.

The district did a U-turn in the 1999 elections, with the TDP emerging triumphant in all the seats except Kovvuru which went to the Congress. Not surprisingly, the TDP romped home under the leadership of N. Chandrababu Naidu.

Which way will the district go now?

This has turned out to be a brainteaser for political observers in the State.

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