Andhra Pradesh BJP MP Ramesh’s entry makes Anakapalle contest intense
VISAKHAPATNAM: With the entry of BJP MP CM Ramesh into the fray, the contest in the Anakapalle Lok Sabha constituency is likely to be intense. He is facing Deputy Chief Minister Budi Mutyala Naidu.
Anakapalle, a jaggery town of Andhra Pradesh, had witnessed interesting political battles earlier. Noted film producer Allu Aravind contested from Anakapalle on Praja Rajyam ticket in 2009. However, he suffered defeat in the triangular contest, and stood third after N Surya Prakasa Rao of TDP. Sabbam Hari of Congress was the winner then. In 2014, Muttamsetti Srinivasa Rao of TDP won against Gudivada Amarnath, who contested as a YSRC nominee, with a margin of over 45,000 votes.
In the last election, Beesetti Venkata Satyavathi, a political novice of YSRC, won against Adari Anand Kumar of TDP by a margin of 89,000 votes. In the same election, NOTA got 34,897 votes, more than the BJP candidate who polled 13,276 votes.
In 2019, the TDP, Jana Sena Party, and BJP contested the elections separately and their vote share together was 47.90% against YSRC’s 47.33%.
The constituency was formed in 1962, and it comprises Chodavaram, Madugula, Anakapalle, Pendurthi, Elamanchili, Payakaraopeta and Narsipatnam Assembly segments.
The selection of candidates by the ruling and opposition parties witnessed many twists and turns. Soon after the TDP and JSP reached an agreement, it was speculated that Anakapalle seat might be given to the JSP. Initially, former minister Konathala Ramakrishna, who joined the JSP, was tipped as the candidate for Anakapalle.
Rumours that K Nagababu, brother of JSP chief Pawan Kalyan, might contest from Anakapalle, were also in circulation. Later, Konathala was shifted to Anakapalle Assembly segment, which triggered resentment among TDP aspirants. But, they were pacified by the TDP leadership.
With the joining of the BJP in the alliance, the saffron party was allotted Anakapalle and Vizianagaram Lok Sabha seats in renegotiations.
However, the BJP had forgone Vizianagaram for Rajampeta, from where former Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy is in the fray as the BJP nominee. BJP MPs CM Ramesh and GVL Narasimha Rao, and several other leaders aspired for Anakapalle seat. But the BJP leadership had decided to field Ramesh from Anakapalle. The choice of Ramesh had triggered discontent among local BJP leaders, who ‘expressed’ their resentment at the party’s internal meeting.
On the other hand, the YSRC had also made several U-turns in candidate selection. The YSRC had appointed Pilla Rama Kumari as party coordinator for the Lok Sabha constituency replacing sitting MP initially. But the YSRC held back the announcement at the last minute to see, who would be fielded by the tripartite alliance from the Lok Sabha constituency. Ultimately, it zeroed in on Mutyala Naidu, who had started his campaign in Madugula Assembly constituency. He reportedly agreed to contest from Anakapalle Lok Sabha seat on condition that his daughter Anuradha should be given Madugula Assembly seat. And the YSRC leadership had agreed to it.
Now, the battlelines are drawn and Ramesh and Mutyala Naidu are set to lock horns. The JSP has fielded strong candidates in three of the seven Assembly segments, which it got as part of the alliance. The TDP has a strong presence in the remaining four constituencies. The BJP seems to be banking on all these, besides the Modi factor to win the seat.
The YSRC, which is banking on the clean image of Mutyala Naidu, and also its flagship programmes, is trying to raise the bogie of non-local against the tripartite alliance candidate. However, whether will it cut the ice with the electorate has to be seen, observed a political analyst.