The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) has been striving hard to win the Palasa constituency, considered to be a bastion of TDP for many decades, with the strong influence of freedom fighter Gowthu Latchanna’s family in Uddanam region of Srikakulam district.
YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) is also putting extra effort to retain the seat, which is currently represented by Minister for Animal Husbandry Seediri Appalaraju, who defeated TDP nominee Gowthu Sireesha, grand daughter of Mr. Latchanna, in the 2019 general elections with a margin of 15,526 votes. The same candidates are in the electoral battle, this time too.
From 1952, the constituency, which was known as Sompeta earlier, had been in the firm grip of Mr. Latchanna’s family. Mr. Latchanna represented the constituency between 1952 and 1983 uninterrupted. During this period he won the elections as an independent and with tickets from Swatantra Party and Janata Party, that too, when Congress was in power both in A.P. and Centre. However, in 1983 he tasted his first defeat at the hands of Congress nominee Majji Narayana Rao.
