The ruling YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) has dropped the incumbent legislators of the Chittoor and Puthalapattu (SC) Assembly constituencies as in-charges, paving the way for new faces.
In the third list of in-charges announced on January 11, the ruling party made M.C. Vijayananda Reddy, who is currently vice-chairman of the A.P. State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC), as in-charge of the Chittoor constituency in place of sitting legislator A. Srinivasulu. In the same way, the party dropped M.S. Babu and made former MLA M. Suneel Kumar as in-charge of the Puthalapattu constituency.
Mr. Vijayananda Reddy is presumably the YSRCP MLA candidate for Chittoor. Hailing from Kothapallemitta in neighbouring Gangadhara Nellore (SC) Assembly constituency, Mr. Vijayananda Reddy is known for several service activities.
Mr. Vijayananda Reddy, who bagged the contract for the vending zones in the Chittoor Municipal Corporation limits, has been providing space for the vegetable vendors and farmers to sell their produce free of cost. He had undertaken repairs from his own funds to the railway overbridge in the heart of Chittoor. He also distributes clothes to the downtrodden families during festive occasions.
Senior Telugu Desam Party leader and film producer G. Jagan Mohan, who is keen on entering the fray from Chittoor, is also known for undertaking service activities on a much larger scale.
Sources in the YSRCP say that by dropping Mr. Srinivasulu, a Balija leader, the leadership is resorting to a big political gamble. They fear that the YSRCP may invite the wrath of the people from the community.
Leaders of the TDP and Jana Sena Party (JSP) are confident that the Balija community will stand by them. This apart, a majority of the BJP leaders in the Chittoor Municipal Corporation and the surrounding areas belong to another dominant community — Kamma, to which TDP supremo N. Chandrababu Naidu belongs.
Senior YSRCP leaders, who have been opposing the candidature of Mr. Vijayananda Reddy for Chittoor, reiterate that he will not have the support of half of the corporators, who mostly owe their allegiance to Mr. Srinivasulu, State Mudaliyar Welfare and Development Corporation chairman T.G. Suresh and Chittoor Urban Development Authority (CHUDA) chairman Purushottam Reddy.
Though Mr. Vijayananda Reddy was once a follower of former MLA C.K. Babu, he is unlikely to enjoy his support now, the party leaders say. In the Chittoor rural and adjoining Gudipala mandal, the TDP is said to have regained its lost sway.
Meanwhile, the political scenario in the Chittoor constituency is expected to witness a sea change soon as speculation is rife that the family of late D.K. Audikesavulu Naidu, who is considered the mascot for the Balijas in the Rayalaseema region, may enter the fray either on the TDP or JSP ticket.
Mr. Sunil Kumar, the new in-charge of Puthalapattu, is a non-controversial leader. Though he had won as MLA on YSRCP ticket in 2014, he was denied the opportunity in the 2019 elections. Since then, Mr. Sunil Kumar has remained politically inactive.
The TDP is yet to make inroads in the constituency, which was reserved for the SCs in 2009. The opposition party has made K. Murali Mohan, a former journalist and a political novice, as in-charge Puthalapattu.
After being denied the party ticket, Mr. Babu made serious allegations against the YSRCP government, accusing it of doing injustice to Dalits. Mr. Babu later said he would continue to sail with the YSRCP till his “last breath.”
