GUNTUR : As Andhra Pradesh is set to go to polls on May 13, all eyes are on Mangalagiri Assembly constituency in Guntur district, from where TDP general secretary Nara Lokesh is in the fray. After the defeat in the 2019 election, TDP supremo Nara Chandrababu Naidu’s son is contesting from the same segment for the second consecutive time to prove himself as a strong leader with resolve.
The ruling YSRC, which aims to score a hat-trick win, has fielded Murugudu Lavanya, a political novice who belongs to the dominant Padmashali community in the constituency, to take on Lokesh. The social engineering strategy of YSRC lays emphasis on garnering the votes of Padmashali community with a sizeable population of 80,000 in Mangalagiri.
Now, Mangalagiri is one of the prestigious constituencies for both the ruling YSRC and the opposition TDP. Lokesh is leaving no stone unturned to achieve victory. The YSRC has gone all out to retain the Assembly seat. As the electioneering is coming to an end, the YSRC and TDP candidates have intensified their campaign in the constituency. Family members of both the contestants are actively taking part in door-to-door campaign, besides holding roadshows to reach out to the people.
Mangalagiri Assembly constituency comprises Mangalagiri, Tadepalli and Duggirala mandals with an electorate of 2.68 lakh. Part of Tenali revenue division, the segment also falls in Mangalagiri Tadepalli Municipal Corporation. Mangalagiri is home to the famous Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy temple, one of the eight Narasimha Maha Kshetras in the country. It is popular for hand-dyed fabric. Mangalagiri handloom fabrics and sarees figure in Andhra Pradesh’s geographical indications. Since the inception of the Assembly constituency in 1952, the Congress has won six times, while the Left parties bagged the seat four times. The TDP won the seat twice way back in 1983 and 1985 and the ruling YSRC has won it twice in 2014 and 2019.
Sitting YSRC MLA Alla Ramakrishna Reddy, who defeated Lokesh by a margin of 5,337 votes, resigned from the party on December 11, and joined the Congress to everyone’s surprise. The YSRC appointed Ganji Chiranjeevi, a leader from the Padmashali community, who left the TDP in August 2022, as incharge of the constituency on the same day.
Though Alla rejoined the YSRC within two months, the party leadership abruptly changed its mind and chose Lavanya, who is the daughter-in-law of former minister and YSRC MLC Murugudu Hanumantha Rao, and daughter of former MLA Kandru Kamala.
All the leaders are intensely campaigning for the victory of Lavanya. Even Alla and Chiranjeevi have extended their wholehearted support to Lavanya. The YSRC is banking on the local factor and the support of the Padmashali community, besides the development and welfare initiatives of Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy to win the election.
Lokesh is claiming that despite being a non-local, he has been available to the people of Mangalagiri all the time for the past five years, besides implementing 29 schemes for the welfare of the people with his own funds. His wife Nara Brahmani is also actively campaigning in the constituency, interacting with women.
Though 40 candidates are in the poll fray, it is a known fact that the main fight is between the YSRC and the TDP.
When TNIE visited the constituency and interacted with the local people to solicit their views on the outcome, several remained tight lipped. Raghavulu, a construction worker, opined that the YSRC government’s sand policy had affected their livelihood. “We will vote for the TDP, which promises development and welfare,” he revealed.
Sharing his perspective, Raja, an auto driver, felt, “If the TDP comes to power and implements the free-bus-ride promise for women, the livelihood of auto drivers will be hit. Jagan has implemented all the welfare schemes he promised and we trust him. Jagan will become the CM again without any doubt,” he predicted.