GUNTUR : Bapatla Assembly constituency is set to witness a tough fight as YSRC is eyeing to secure a hat-trick win, while the TDP is striving to make its mark in the segment.
While the YSRC has fielded sitting MLA Kona Raghupathi, the TDP has nominated industrialist and philanthropist Vegesana Narendra Varma.
The constituency had been a bastion of the Congress since its inception in 1952 with majority of voters belonging to the Reddy community.
However, the Congress vote transferred to the YSRC with sitting MLA and former deputy speaker Kona Raghupathi winning the seat two consecutive times in 2014 and 2019.
The Kona family has a strong influence in the area as Kona Raghupathi’s father Prabhakar Rao was elected as MLA from the constituency three times in 1967, 1972, and 1948.
On the other hand, the TDP nominated Vegesana, who has taken up various programmes to strengthen the party cadre at the grass-roots.
With the YSRC government fulfilling the long-pending demand of the people to form Bapatla district and establish Bapatla town as the district headquarters, the poll outcome might sway in its favour. Besides, the construction of a bypass road, medical college, and a 500-bed government hospital is also expected to urbanise the town.
Though ex-minister and senior leader Gade Venkata Reddy tried to make his heir Madhusudhan Reddy as MLA candidate, the party selected Kona to gain the support of Brahmin voters. However, with the BJP-led NDA, of which the TDP is a part, pitching Ram Mandir construction, it will be interesting to see whether the Brahmin voters choose Kona or to the NDA, opined political analysts.