GUNTUR: In a rare feat that no party has managed to achieve, the TDP alliance claimed all 17 Assembly constituencies and three Lok Sabha segments in the erstwhile Guntur district.
TDP won Guntur, Narasaraopet, and Bapatla Lok Sabha segments, and 16 Assembly seats, including Guntur East and West, Tadikonda, Mangalagiri, Prathipadu, Ponnur, Pedakurappadu, Chilakaluripet, Narasaraopet, Sattenapalli, Vinukonda, Gurajala, Macherla, Vemuru, Repalle, and Bapatla. It’s ally, the Jana Sena, bagged Tenali, the single seat it contested in the region.
Earlier, there were 19 constituencies in the district. However, the number came down to 17 after delimitation in 2009.
The region has never been a stronghold of a single party for too long. In the 1994 elections, while the TDP won 14 seats, Congress only won two. In 2004, the picture changed completely as Congress wrested 18 seats, leaving only one for the TDP. The grand old party’s winning streak continued in 2009 as it retained 11 seats out of the total 17, while the TDP won six.
Political picture in the district changed following the bifurcation of AP and the declaration of Amaravati as the new capital city of the State.
In 2014, with the Congress suffering an electoral setback, the TDP secured majority of 12 Assembly seats and the YSRC won five.
Despite the YSRC wave that took over the State in 2019, YS Jagan Mohan Reddy’s party was able to win 14 seats, while the TDP bagged three. It must be noted that YSRC made inroads even into the capital region, including Tadikonda and Mangalagiri Assembly segments.
However, the distress among farmers, who gave their lands for capital city development and the collapse of real estate in the region after the YSRC government announced its proposal to establish three capitals, resulted in the YSRC’s rout in the region.
Defying expectations and predictions of YSRC leaders as well as political analysts, the TDP staged a comeback in the region. It wrested all seats in Palnadu district, part of the erstwhile Guntur district, where YSRC made a sweep in 2019.
The coalition with the BJP and the JSP broadened TDP’s appeal, drawing in a diverse voter base. The resurgence sent shock waves across the political landscape. The shift in Palnadu also indicated that it was not merely a series of isolated victories, but rather an indication of broader regional discontent with YSRC governance.