NELLORE: It seems all is not well in the TDP-JSP combine in Nellore district, where the TDP wants to make a comeback. Several aspirants for TDP tickets, who have prepared the ground for the ensuing Assembly elections well in advance, are in a fix following the announcement of the TDP-JSP alliance.
Unlike the twin Godavari districts, where TDP aspirants have expressed their willingness to sacrifice their seats for the sake of alliance and to defeat the ruling YSRC, Nellore ticket-seekers seem to be not ready to forego their seats.
The TDP has got a big boost with the entry of suspended YSRC MLAs Anam Ramanarayana Reddy (Venkatagiri), Kotamreddy Sridhar Reddy (Nellore Rural) and Mekapati Chandrasekhar Reddy (Udayagiri), who have got considerable influence in their respective constituencies, into the party. They seem to have got an assurance from the TDP leadership that they will be given party tickets. The Reddy community has been a dominant force in Nellore politics for the past two decades.
However, the arrest of former Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu in the Andhra Pradesh State Skill Development Corporation (APSSDC) case has changed the dynamics of Nellore politics. The district was a Congress bastion earlier.
After the inception of the TDP in 1983, the Congress has slowly lost its hold on the district. Over the years, the Congress vote bank has turned to the YSRC. In the 2014 Assembly elections, the YSRC won eight of the 10 constituencies. It made a clean sweep in the district in the last elections, winning all the 10 Assembly seats and two Lok Sabha segments.
Now, the TDP is striving to regain its lost glory in the district by strengthening its base at the grassroots level.
“Nellore is very typical, where people vote traditionally rather than following the current trends, which is a major obstacle for contestants. Even during the TDP wave, voters preferred the Congress, which indicates their tendency,” said a political analyst.
The JSP’s focus seems to be on Nellore City, Kavali and a few urban segments though it does not have the cadre base at the grassroots. In the wake of alliance, TDP leaders who have been assured of party tickets in some constituencies, need to forego their seats if the JSP wants them as part of the seat-sharing between the two parties. In such a case, the political equations may get disturbed, marring the winning prospects of the alliance, a political analyst opined.