KAKINADA: By winning 14 of the 19 Assembly seats in East Godavari, the YSR Congress has completely changed the political game in the district. Party chief YS Jagan Mohan Reddy’s public image led voters of the delta region rejecting the Chandrababu Naidu-led Telugu Desam.
This time, the TDP was reduced to a meagre four seats as against the 12 it had won in the 2014 elections. The seats the party was able to retain were Peddapuram, Rajahmundry (both rural and city) and Mandapeta. Development activities carried out by Nimmakayala China Rajappa, with the help of social organisations, during his last tenure in Peddapuram is said to be the reason behind him winning the seat again by a margin of 4,027 votes, political analysts said.
Gorantla Butchaiah Choudary was able to retain the Rajahmundry Rural segment and Adireddy Bhavani won Rajahmundry City, from where Akula Satyanarayana had won in the 2014 polls when the yellow party and the BJP were in alliance.
Meanwhile, Razole is that one place where ‘power star’ Pawan Kalyan’s, who had once said that he would be acting as a ‘king maker’ in the State, effect was felt. A former MLA from the constituency, Rapaka Varaprasada Rao, won it again on a Jana Sena ticket. He had won it last in 2009 on a Congress ticket.
One more reason why the TDP failed in the district was that the farming community was quite unhappy with the promises made regarding the farm loan waivers. Naidu was accused of deceiving the farmers for not implementing the said schemes to their true sense. His failure to deliver his promise of compensating the farmers who had lost their lands to the Kakinada SEZ also led to the TDP’s losing its sheen, the analysts opined.