The Visakhapatnam East Assembly constituency – which was carved out after the Andhra Pradesh delimitation exercise in 2008 – is a stronghold of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), if the outcome of the elections held for the segment so far is any indication.
Though dominated by the Yadava community, the constituency, with a voter strength of 2,80,609, has been represented by a person who belongs to the Kamma caste since its inception – Velagapudi Ramakrishna Babu of TDP, who achieved a hat-trick by winning the seat thrice in a row.
In the elections held for the first time in the constituency in 2009, Ramakrishna Babu emerged victorious in the multi-cornered contest. He had defeated his nearest rival Ch Srinivasa Rao by a comfortable margin of over 4,000 votes. Congress candidate Vurukuti Appa Rao was pushed to third place. The TDP strongman consolidated his position in the next elections held in 2014, winning with flying colours by getting an overwhelming majority of 47, 883 votes over his Yuvajana Shramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP) rival, Ch Srinivasa Rao.
Even in the 2019 polls – in which YSRCP scored a landslide victory – Ramakrishna Babu, weathering the Jagan storm, coasted to victory comfortably. He trounced A Vijaya Nirmala of YSRCP by a margin of over 26,400 votes, successfully securing a hat-trick.
Sure of winning the seat for the fourth time in a row, the TDP retained Ramakrishna Babu, who already got into campaign mode within the constituency. A staunch supporter of TDP chief Nara Chandrababu Naidu, he often takes potshots at Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, faulting his policies.
The ruling YSRCP, on the other hand, was keen on stalling the TDP juggernaut in the constituency and pitted MVV Satyanarayana, the sitting Member of Parliament (MP) from Visakhapatnam, against Ramakrishna Babu. Also a realtor, Satyanarayana was financially strong and capable of tilting the balance in his favor.
Proving contradictory predictions wrong, Satyanarayana won the Visakhapatnam Lok Sabha seat in the last general elections. In the multi-cornered contest, he sprung a surprise and defeated M Bharat of TDP by a narrow margin of over 4,400 votes. Presently, he is vigorously campaigning in the constituency. He launched a padayatra, where he organized door-to-door visits and interactions with voters.
With battle lines being drawn between the two leaders, the Visakhapatnam East Assembly constituency is likely to witness a keen contest in the upcoming Andhra Pradesh elections.
Read also: ‘I will win the next elections and rule Andhra from Vizag’, says CM Jagan Mohan Reddy
This article is written by senior journalist Lakkoju Nagesh Babu.
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