State Agriculture Minister Somireddy Chandramohan Reddy, who is waging a do-or-die battle from Sarvepalli on the poll plank of development, may scrape through this time.
Though 10 candidates are the in the fray, the contest is likely to be between him and sitting YSR Congress MLA Kakani Govardhan Reddy in Sarvepalli, the ancestral village of philospher and former President Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan.
Undeterred by a hat-trick of poll reverses in the consecutive elections since 2004, Mr. Chandramohan Reddy, a two-time MLA, put in his papers as Member of the Legislative Council hoping to wrest the seat for the ruling Telugu Desam Party.
Mr. Govardhan Reddy is also equally confident of retaining the seat this time too, as he claims that all sections of people are upset with misrule of the Chandrababu Naidu Government.
However, Jana Sena Party nominee S. Hemalatha, a lawyer, is likely to upset the calculations of the key contenders as she slogged covering each and every hamlet in the constituency comprising the mandals of Podhalkur, Manubole, T.P.Gudur, Muthukur and Venkatachalam.
Mr. Chandramohan Reddy said though he was defeated in 2014, as a Minister he had been nursing the constituency. He claimed that he had initiated development works worth ₹2,000 crore and ensured completion of, among other projects, the Kandaleru Lift Irrigation Scheme which had been pending for over 25 years. Despite drought, the TDP had ensured 48.5 tmcft of Krishna water from Somasila to farmers during the year when rains failed, he explained in a conversation with The Hindu .
Mr. Govardhan Reddy said people were upset over non-implementation of non-fishermen package sanctioned by the erstwhile YSR government for those displaced by the Krishnapatnam sea port. Even now all the 10,500 eligible families had not been provided with compensation of ₹43,500 each. "If I am re-elected, I will ensure setting up of a mini-fishing harbour, early completion of the Sangam and Penna barrages and also impress upon the party supremo to increase the water-carrying capacity of Pothireddypadu head regulator to 44,000 cusecs," he said.
Going door-to-door with members of ‘Veera Mahila’ in tow, Ms. Hemalatha sought a chance for the fledgling party while highlighting the commitment of actor-politician Pawan Kalyan to end money power in politics and end the political hegemony of the conventional parties. Irrespective of the poll outcome, she would stay put in the constituency and fight a legal battle against the high level air pollution caused by a large number thermal power plants which made the lives of the people in the constituency miserable, she said while canvassing for votes in Mandapam village.
Congress nominee P.Chandrasekar also went door-to-door in Muthukur village explaining in detail the promises made in the party election manifesto including Special Category Status and ‘NYAY’ scheme to transfer ₹72,000 to each poor person’s bank account.
The Congress has won the seat for a maximum of three times, the TDP twice and the YSRCP once since 1983 when an Independent candidate Penchala Reddy Chenna Reddy romped home. Mr. Chandramohan Reddy had won in 1994 and 1999 and lost to Adala Prabhakar Reddy of the Congress in 2004 and 2009 and against Mr. Govardhan Reddy in 2014.
