KAKINADA: Will the TDP continue its dominance in East Godavari district? Who will the voters in 19 Assembly constituencies of the district prefer in the ensuing elections? These are the million dollar questions among political parties as the Kapu factor makes the election results unpredictable in this coastal district this time around.
Since its inception in 1982, the TDP has maintained its dominance in the district except in 1989, 2004 and 2009 elections and the verdicts largely reflect the mood of the coastal districts of the State. After the 2014 elections, Kapu reservation has become a major political issue and it reached its boiling point with the Tuni train arson incident in January 2016 during the BC reservation strike.
The Kapu community has a large say in the district and its support is crucial for political parties to emerge victorious in the electoral battle. Apart from Kapu reservation issue, unemployment and delay in the grounding of industrial units in Kakinada SEZ are other issues that may impact the poll outcome. This time, it is expected that electoral battle will be a triangular fight as Pawan Kalyan’s Jana Sena is expected to split the vote banks of both TDP and YSRC and emerge as a third political force to reckon with in the district.
The district has seven revenue divisions and 64 mandals, two municipal corporations, 10 municipalities and 1,681 revenue villages. The district has 19 Assembly constituencies and three Lok Sabha seats. The district population is 52.86 lakh according to the 2011 census, including that of the four merged mandals from the Khammam district of Telangana. According to official data, 42,04,035 voters were enrolled on March 22 itself.
The East Godavari is largely a peaceful district. The district is called the ‘Rice Bowl’ of the State as over 75 per cent of the population is occupied with agriculture allied sectors.It has a seaport, which is divided into two — one is Anchorage Port and the second Deep Water Port. Urea, potassium, gypsum, coal, graphite, rice, sugar, wheat and iron ore are being exported from the district, generating crores of rupees worth business with many foreign countries. Nagarjuna and Coromandel (Godavari) Fertilizer factories are located in Kakinada.
Political awareness among the people of the district is said to be higher than that of other districts and political defections is rather a common phenomenon here. YSRC chief YS Jagan Mohan Reddy banks on his father late YS Rajasekhara Reddy’s good name and “anti-incumbency” factor to turn the tables on the TDP like the Congress did in 2004. On the other hand, TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu believes that 5 per cent reservation for Kapus, Polavaram project and other development and welfare programmes implemented by his government will help the party retain its stronghold.
