Along with Rayalaseema, the Nellore district has always been a strong forte for the YSR Congress since its inception. It is always the case with Congress and the same has been passed on to YSR Congress after YSR’s demise.
In the 2014 elections when TDP won, the party could only manage three seats out of the ten in the district.
In 2019, the party drew a blank here.
But then, Nellore is one district where the change first began.
We have seen YSR Congress sitting MLAs like Kotamreddy Sridhar Reddy, Anam Ram Narayana Reddy, and Mekapati Chandrasekhar Reddy leave the party and join TDP one year before the election. Recently, we saw Vemireddy Prabhakar Reddy, the strong man of the district for YSR Congress join the TDP.
These joinings indicate a wave for TDP like never before in the district.
Sarvepalli is the only seat YSR Congress is so confident of winning in the district but things changed all of a sudden after the schedule was out.
Several YSR Congress leaders and cadres are joining the Telugu Desam Party in droves.
There are huge crowds in Somireddy’s campaign surprising everyone. Podhalakuru Mandal is the stronghold of Kakani Govardhan Reddy and the major reason for his victories. Somireddy got a massive reception when he went to campaign in Biradhavolu village in this mandal.
There are several corruption allegations against Kakani. There is a talk in the constituency that he is charging ‘toll’ from lorries and vehicles coming out of Krishnapatnam port and so, containers stopped arriving through the port.
They are using alternative routes like road and rail. As a result, 10,000 jobs were lost. The export of Prawns and Paddy also got disrupted.
Moreover, Somireddy was defeated three times on a trot in the constituency. So, there is also a sympathy factor in favor of the TDP Senior leader.
Even though things are working in his favor, Somireddy will have to sweat hard to match Kakani’s money power and electioneering to win Sarvepalli.
