Indications of Telugu Desam MLA Kodali Venkateswara Rao quitting the party to join YSR Congress Party seems to have demoralised the die-hard TDP workers who have nothing but awe for the Gudivada Assembly constituency.
The voters, who have been loyal to the party for over three decades, have been plunged into a dilemma. The founder of the Telugu Desam Party Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao was elected from the Gudivada Assembly Constituency twice (1983, 1985). Except for one term (1989-94) the voters of Gudivada have elected without fail a TDP person as their legislator.
Nimmakuru, the village where Mr. Rama Rao was born is in Gudivada Assembly Constituency and is considered haloed ground by all NTR fans and TDP workers.
Congress candidate Katari Eswarkumar defeated sitting TDP MLA Raavi Sobhanadri Chowdary in 1989 elections. But, he got trounced by the man he defeated (Mr. Chowdary) in the next election held in 1994.
Mr. Chowdary and his sons Haragopal and Venkateswara Rao represented Gudivada in the State Assembly till 2004. The Raavi family members even won in two by-elections held in the constituency in 985 and 2000.
The controversial MLA Kodali Venkateswara Rao (Nani) won from Gudivada in 2004 in the height of a Congress wave. Gudivada constituency is in Machilipatnam Parliamentary constituency and though Congress candidate Badiga Ramakrishna defeated sitting Telugu Desam Party MP Ambati Brahmanaiah in the constituency, Mr. Venkateswara Rao won against all odds in this segment.
Neighbouring Kankipadu Assembly (which in 2009 was broke up into three bits in constituencies’ re-organisation) was a constituency where Telugu Desam Party never lost till 1999 from its inception in 1983.
The Telugu Desam Party lost grip on such a stronghold after its candidate Devineni Rajasekhar joined the Congress party.
Mr. Venkateswara Rao did the party proud getting re-elected from the constituency which was considered a matter of prestige for the Telugu Desam.
