With just a few days left for general elections in the State, the question that is uppermost in the minds of people is: Who will win the Bapatla Lok Sabha seat?
Sitting MP Sriram of TDP wanted to stay away from elections citing health reasons but he had no other option but contest for the seat as the party forced him to remain in fray. Initially, he was given MLA ticket for Tadikonda Assembly constituency, but the incumbent MLA Tenali Sravan Kumar opposed the move. Eventually, the TDP high command nominated Sriram as its candidate for the Bapatla Lok Sabha constituency.
On the other hand, YSRC has nominated Nandigama Suresh as its candidate for the constituency. Suresh rise from an ordinary party activist to the level of party nominee for a parliamentary seat is meteoric. Many see his elevation as an encouraging trend.
However, being a newcomer and a relatively unknown face in most of the Assembly segments of the Lok Sabha constituency may weigh him down at the hustings.
Sub-caste is another important factor that will decide the outcome of the Lok Sabha elections.
Though Dalits (Malas - nearly 1.96 lakh voters and Madigas nearly 1.5 lakh voters) are numerically strong, 2.4 lakh Kamma votes could be a deciding factor. Kapus are also in sufficient numbers in the constituency.
Anti-incumbency factor against the sitting MP may prove a disadvantage to him as he reportedly failed to make any significant contribution for the development of Bapatla constituency.