NELLORE: After the recent developments, the political parties have started preparing the ground for the next elections well in advance in Nellore's rural constituency. While the ruling YSR Congress has announced Nellore MP Adala Prabhakar Reddy as its new in-charge for the constituency, sitting MLA Kotamreddy Sridhar Reddy has already announced that he would be contesting from Telugu Desam party in the next election.
Sridhar Reddy, who openly made it clear that he would join TDP, made serious allegations against the party prompting it to take action against him. The legislator alleged that he had proof that his phone was being tapped at the behest of the party leadership. The war of words between Sridhar Reddy and other YSRC leaders and ministers went on for a couple of days. As the MLA went on making serious allegations, YSR Congress party has appointed Adala as its new in-charge for the segment.
It may be recalled that, Nellore rural constituency was formed in 2009, as part of reorganisation. TDP is having strong base in Nellore rural constituency, where Minister Somireddy Chandramohan Reddy and other senior leaders of the party support the cadre in the constituency.
In fact, TDP had contested for the first time in the last general election (2019) after the formation of the constituency, as the seat was allocated to CPI(M) during 2009 and to BJP during 2014 general elections as part of its alliance with those parties. The party got 39.10 per cent of votes out of 1,58,406 votes in 2019 polls in the rural segment.
Congress candidate Anam Vivekananda Reddy had won the seat during 2009 elections. Vivekananda Reddy defeated Praja Rajyam party (PRP) candidate Anam Venkataramana Reddy with a narrow margin of 3,131 votes in the constituency. While CPI(M)-TDP alliance candidate Bhanuraju was confined to third place in the elections.
In 2014, YSR Congress party candidate Kotamreddy Sridhar Reddy defeated TDP-BJP alliance candidate Sannapureddy Suresh Reddy with a majority of 25,653 votes. Further, Kotamreddy had also won the seat for the second consecutive time over his nearest rival, TDP contender Shaik Abdul Aziz during 2019 general election. Meanwhile, some of the TDP leaders have also started expressing their dissatisfaction over the likely entry of Sridhar Reddy into their party.