The big leaders are presently spewing hot in Ongole but even without their rhetoric, this district is sizzling at 45. Two contrasting constituencies here go to the polls on June 12.
Unlike the complex mix of the electorate in Ongole, the voters in both Prathipadu (SC) and Macherla Assembly constituencies in Guntur district are predominantly farmers and farm labourers, with only a small component salaried workers.
However, there is a small difference between the two constituencies. While tempers are always on hair-trigger in faction-ridden Macherla and issues tend to be settled physically, the people of Prathipadu are an altogether more peaceable lot. The fact that Prathipadu, with its canals and tanks, is many times more prosperous than Macherla must explain this voter psychology.
Now comes the key question: “Who’s winning?” Ask Kotaiah, a voter in Prathipadu; he says philosophically: “Who can tell? Only God can.” And then he assumes God’s role and tips the TDP. Obviously, he is a supporter of TDP candidate K Veeraiah.
On the other hand, YSRC cadres are sure of M Sucharitha’s victory again. In the 2009 election, when the constituency was reserved for SCs, Sucharita, wife of a top income tax official, won on a Congress ticket against Veeraiah by a narrow margin of 1,500 votes. Since its inception, TDP has won five Assembly elections in Prathipadu till 2004 when the Congress snatched it away.
As for the Congress candidate Sudhakar Babu, he is said to command a good following in Guntur rural mandal, which is part of the Prathipadu constituency.
Coming to tinder box Macherla, YSRC candidate P Ramakrishna Reddy is pitted against his uncle and former MLA Lakshma Reddy (Cong) and the TDP’s Ch Madhu Babu, who is a businessman. No election in Macherla is complete without rigging, booth-capturing and bomb-throwing, especially in places like Durgi, Veldurthy and Rentachintala. Ramakrishna Reddy is known to be a tough man and a go-getter of things (possibly even votes).
An interesting thing about Macherla is that it has never returned an incumbent in the 12 elections held so far. The YSRC and Congress candidates have both already served as MLAs, while the TDP candidate is a first-timer.
In the last seven elections, Congress and TDP have won the seat four and three times respectively.
Issues have clearly taken a back seat in both Macherla and Prathipadu. There is drinking water shortage in both constituencies, more so in Macherla, where people commuting to other places for work daily carry home water in small containers on the return trip. While the Vanpic scam is a big issue in Ongole, there is a totally ignored mini-Vanpic in Macherla, where thousands of acres given to major cement factories many years ago are still lying vacant. No new unit has come up and no new jobs have been created.
The agricultural marketyard at Gurgi, for which former chief minister K Rosaiah laid the foundation stone, is yet to be built. Cultivators of mirchi and other crops are yearning for such a facility, which will serve all of Palnadu.
In Prathipadu too, workers in the 50-odd spinning and ginning mills face an uncertain future in the absence of employment guarantees and work regulations.
There are about 20 engineering colleges in the constituency without proper road connectivity. Which software firm will come to recruit at an engineering college that does not have a road to it?
But none of these issues are in the politicians’ or people’s minds; the election has assumed the character of a referendum on Kadapa MP Jagan Mohan Reddy.