At last, uncertainty ends on the Anakapalle Lok Sabha seat for the 2024 Andhra Pradesh elections, with the ruling Yuvajana Shramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP) finalising its candidate for the constituency, which kept it pending while announcing the list of MP candidates a couple of days ago. It named Deputy Chief Minister, Budi Mutyala Naidu, for the seat only a day after the TDP-BJP-JSP combine has chosen sitting Rajya Sabha member (BJP), CM Ramesh for the same.
Though the constituency has been dominated by the communities of Kapu and Gavara, the saffron party has favoured Ramesh, who belongs to the Velama community. It seems the YSRCP, keeping in view the caste equations, has decided to field Mutyala Naidu for the Anakapalle seat, who also belongs to the same caste. At present, he is representing the Madugula Assembly segment, which comes under the Anakapalle Lok Sabha constituency.
Earlier, it was speculated that K Nagababu, brother of Jana Sena Party Chief, Pawan Kalyan, would contest the seat. However, the TDP, despite having considerable clout in the region, has allotted the seat to the saffron party as a part of seat-sharing.
One of the rich politicians in Andhra Pradesh, Ramesh hails from Kadapa and his Rajya Sabha membership term will be coming to an end on 3 April this year. nA staunch supporter of the TDP till 2019, Ramesh joined the BJP ‘for reasons best known to him’. His men already launched a campaign, initially drumming up the support of the leaders of the TDP and the JSP. Testing the waters for the first time in direct elections, Ramesh, a non-local, has exuded confidence that he will emerge victorious.
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In an effort to pit a strong candidate against its arch rival, the YSRCP has selected Mutyala Naidu, two-time MLA from Madugula, and is likely to play the non-local card against Ramesh. A Congressman till the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, Mutyala Naidu joined the YSRCP in 2014 and stepped into the Assembly. With the party storming to power in 2019, Mutyala Naidu was elevated to the post of Deputy Chief Minister in 2022, with his portfolio already containing the Panchayat Raj and Rural Development Minister titles.
Beesetti Venkata Satyavathi, who was elected on the YSRCP ticket in the last election, has been denied the party ticket this time.
Famous for jaggery trade, the Anakapalle Lok Sabha constituency hit the headlines when Konatala Ramakrishna, who contested on the Congress ticket in the 1989 elections, won the seat by a margin of just nine votes against his nearest rival, P Appalanarasimham, of the TDP.
Comprising the Assembly segments of Chodavaram, Madugula, Anakapalle, Pendurthi, Yellamanchili, Payakaraopeta and Narsipatnam, the Anakapalle Lok Sabha constituency is all set for a big fight between the local and a non-local candidates in the 2024 Andhra Pradesh elections.
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This article is written by Senior Journalist Lakkoju Nagesh Babu.
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