Staff Reporter

ELURU: It's a repeat of the last general election in West Godavari district when the Congress won all 16 Assembly and two Lok Sabha constituencies with the exception of the Narsapur Assembly segment. The ruling Congress wrested all municipalities and the Eluru Municipal Corporation from the TDP, except Bhimavaram.

The bastion of TDP leader and former minister, Kothapalli Subbarayudu, developed cracks in Narsapur. Out of 31 wards in Narsapur, the Congress secured 18 while the TDP 9. Mr. Subbarayudu has his sister-in-law Kothapalli Sailaja as the TDP's chairperson candidate, hoping to retain his base.

The result in Bhimavaram was virtually a referendum on the performance of the local Congress MLA, Grandhi Srinivas. The Congress suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of the TDP in the backdrop of his statement that he would resign from the post if the party failed to win the municipality. Strikingly, the party under his stewardship could not even help his mother, Venkataratnam, the Congress chairperson candidate in 24th ward, get through the election. Heartburn among several

depositors of the Urban Cooperative Bank who suffered heavy financial losses due to irregularities in the bank under the management of the Grandhi family seemed to have cost the Congress heavily.

Lone seat for BJP

The anti-incumbency factor in all municipalities and the EMC, which all were held by the TDP, influenced the election a lot in favour of the Congress. The voters gave the Congress a clear majority in all municipalities giving no scope for horse-trading during the election of chairpersons. The CPI and the CPI(M) failed to open their account in the EMC even as the BJP which put up a lone battle, has succeeded by winning a division.

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