Of the 175 Assembly constituencies going to polls, victory in Mangalagiri is going to be the most gratifying for whichever party manages to sway the voters and the outcome will be the most eagerly awaited of all due to the array of candidates lined up to grab the honours.
Victory here will be more satisfying for TDP’s Nara Lokesh as he vowed to avenge his defeat in 2019 and if one were to assume that the sitting YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) MLA Alla Ramakrishna Reddy who defeated him by barely 6,000 votes then, will bite the dust this time around.
Mr. Ramakrishna Reddy’s chances of victory are being carefully weighed amidst a growing opinion that joining the Indian National Congress (INC) which, along with the BJP, is blamed for the unjust bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh (AP), is going to take the wind out of his sails. It is to be noted that the INC had paid a heavy price for bifurcating the State, both in 2014 and 2019 elections.
Another candidate in the fray is the YSRCP’s Ganji Chiranjeevi, who defected from the TDP in August 2022. The hopes of his victory are pinned on the fact that he hails from a Backward Class (BC) community. Mr. Chiranjeevi had lost to Mr. Ramakrishna Reddy in 2014 by a measly 12 votes.
It is almost certain that Mr. Lokesh will now face Mr. Chiranjeevi, and Mr. Ramakrishna Reddy, who is largely responsible for the legal woes of Mr. N. Chandrababu Naidu and Mr. Lokesh, and incurred the wrath of Amaravati farmers for not calling a spade a spade when it came to the proposed shifting of the capital out of Amaravati.
The government’s botched attempt to shift the capital is being seen as a plus for Mr. Lokesh, and the alliance with Jana Sena Party is also factored in as an added strength. Besides, he has the advantage of the strong backing of his father.
Taking a historical perspective, INC won six elections in the constituency since 1952 followed by the Left parties (four times), TDP twice (way back in 1983 and 1985), YSRCP also twice (2014 and 2019) and Janata Party once.
