KADAPA : For the last two decades, Kadapa district has become a bastion of the YSR family leaving others to struggle vainly for getting a foothold in this region. First, it was YS Rajasekhara Reddy standing for Congress, who had held the district in his grip and later his son YS Jagan Mohan Reddy held sway over the district for his own YSRC party.
There was a time when a few Assembly segments in Kadapa had TDP dominating the elections, but over the years, that became a thing of the past. Under such circumstances, TDP gave three seats to its allies to contest the elections. This evoked a sharp criticism from BJP’s State leadership for giving them those seats that are nearly unwinnable.
Out of the 10 Assembly constituencies in the undivided Kadapa district, TDP is contesting seven seats, BJP was given two seats to contest and JSP was given one seat. The saffron party was given Badvel and Jammalamadugu while JSP was given Railway Koduru. In these three constituencies, with YSRC fielding strong candidates, BJP and JSP face tough competition.
Badvel, has remained a bastion of TDP from 1985 till 2004. Veera Reddy Bijivemula, who won the elections from the Congress party in 1967, 1972, and 1983, shifted his loyalties to TDP in 1985. He won the elections at that time but lost to Congress leader Vaddemanu Sivaramakrishna Rao in subsequent elections. However, he regained the seat in the 1994 and 1999 elections, and served as a minister in the TDP government.
After his demise in 2001, TDP seems to have lost grip on the constituency, but in the by-elections, Bijivemula’s daughter K Vijayamma won the elections. However, she lost in 2004 in the YSR wave that swept the Assembly elections. She lost to Congress candidate DC Govinda Reddy. Since then TDP failed to take back the seat. In 2009, Badvel became a reserved constituency for SCs and the Bijavemula family could not contest the seat and remained a force helping the SC candidates of the TDP. In 2009, Kamalamma on the Congress ticket won the elections.
In the 2014 and 2019 elections, YSRC candidates T Jayaramulu and G Venkatasubbaiah bagged the seat respectively. In 2021, Venkatasubbaiah died due to ill health and his wife Dr Dasari Sudha emerged victorious in the by-elections.
In the by-election, Dasari Sudha defeated BJP candidate P Suresh with a 90,411 majority. YSRC has retained her as its candidate, while BJP is fielding Bojja Rosanna, an irrigation deputy engineer who took VRS. Rosanna initially joined TDP, but when BJP was given Badvel in seat sharing, he joined the BJP. YSRC and the alliance are leaving no stone unturned to woo the voters for victory.
Jammalamadugu is another Assembly constituency, which stood as a bastion of TDP from the party’s inception in 1983 till 2004. Ponnapureddy Siva Reddy (Gundlakunta Shiva Reddy), a noted factionist, was MLA from TDP from 1983 to 1994 and after his death his nephew and political heir P Rama Subba Reddy became MLA in 1994 and 1999. However, like Badvel, Jammamalamadugu too bowed down to YSR influence in 2004. C Adinarayana Reddy won the seat in 2004 and 2009 on a Congress ticket and won again on a YSRC ticket in 2014.
For the 2024 election, YSRC retained incumbent Sudheer Reddy as its candidate, while BJP has fielded C Adinaryaan Reddy, who joined the party after the 2019 elections. TDP’s C Bupesh Reddy, who is now contesting as party MP candidate for Kadapa Lok Sabha aspired to contest as MLA candidate for Jammalamadugu. Sources say there could be an exchange of seats by the allies.
The case of the Railway Koduru constituency is no different. Just like Badvel and Jammalamadugu, it stood as the bastion of the Yellow Party from 1983 to 2004. In 2004, in the YSR wave, the seat went to Congress and since 2012 it has been with the YSRC party. For the 2024 elections, YSRC has retained Koramutla Srinivasulu, who has been representing the constituency since 2009. In the poll pact, the seat went to JSP, which initially fielded Yanamala Bhaskar Rao, but changed his candidature and gave the seat to Arava Sreedhar.