BCs step up pressure on YSRC for Vizianagaram assembly seat
SRIKAKULAM : With the Assembly elections fast approaching, the ruling YSRC seems to be facing a tough time as several BC leaders have left the party in recent weeks. Avanapu Vijay and Pilla Vijay Kumar, who hail from the Kapu community, and serving the YSRC since its inception, have quit the party a few days ago denouncing the indifferent attitude of the local leadership.
Vizianagaram Assembly segment is a TDP bastion since the inception of the party. Pusapati Ashok Gajapathi Raju won the seat seven times since 1978. Kolagatla Veerabhadra Swamy, who hails from the Arya Vysya community, bagged the seat twice, once as an independent in 2004 and on YSRC ticket in 2019. Praja Rajyam Party gave the seat to Meesala Geetha, who hails from the Kapu community (listed as BCs), for the first time in 2009.
However, she suffered a defeat in a triangular fight. Later, she won the seat on TDP ticket in 2014 as Ashok contested the Lok Sabha seat then. There is no demand from BCs for Vizianagaram seat in the TDP now as Ashok is likely to be its candidate.
Municipal Chairman Avanapu Suribabu, who hails from the Kapu community, had become the first person to join the YSRC in the district despite the pressure from the then APCC chief and minister Botcha Satyanarayana not to leave the Congress. He led the party successfully in the district, aspiring Vizianagaram Assembly seat. However, the political landscape of Vizianagaram had completely changed with the entry of Botcha, Kolagatla and Penumatsa Sambasiva Raju into the YSRC. Though YSRC chief YS Jagan Mohan Reddy assured Suribabu’s sons Vikram and Vijay of justice after their father’s death, he had given DCMS chairperson post to Vikram’s wife and left Vijay.
Fed up with the YSRC’s indifference, Vijay and Vijay Kumar launched a protest demanding the ruling YSRC to allot Vizianagaram Assembly seat to BCs. But the YSRC leadership had totally ignored their demand. Hence, they joined the TDP along with their followers.
Meanwhile, several Yadava community leaders, led by AP Food Commission member B Kantarao Yadav, staged a 36- hour relay hunger strike demanding Vizianagaram seat. As Kapus and Yadavas are the dominant communities in the Assembly segment, Vizianagaram MLA and Deputy Assembly Speaker Kolagatla is likely to face a hurdle to get renomination in the ensuing polls. Kolagatla is confident of retaining the seat, despite dissidence in the YSRC. However, the Kapu and Yadava communities may mar his winning prospects if he is given the ticket again, observed an analyst.