Tenali constituency glitters with political & film stars

Guntur: Tenali is one of the towns in the state where political awareness is high among people. This is one constituency from where many prominent film actors like super star Ghantamaneni Krishna, Gummadi Venkateswara Rao, Kongara Jaggiah, yesteryear heroines Jamuna, Kanchanamala, Savitri and Sarada hailed.

Prominent among the politicians were former chief minister Nadendla Bhaskara Rao, his son Nadendla Manohar, former minister Annabathuni Satyanarayana and his son Annabathuni Siva Kumar, Doddapaneni Indira, her daughter Gogineni Uma were elected to the Assembly from Tenali Assembly constituency.

Annabathuni Satyanarayana, Doddapaneni Indira, Nadendla Manohar got elected twice to the State Legislative Assembly from Tenali constituency. Former chief ministers Nadendla Bhasakara Rao and Konijeti Rosaiah also contested from Tenali Assembly constituency and were defeated. Nadendla Manohar was elected in 2004 and 2009 Assembly elections from this constituency. He worked as Assembly Speaker in the combined state of Andhra Pradesh.

Former ministers Alapati Venkatramaiah,, Ravi Ravindranath Chowdary worked as Tenali municipal chairpersons and were elected to Assembly. Alapati Venkatramaiah, Annabathuni Satyanarana were ministers too.

Tenali is revenue divisional headquarters and municipality. There are 2,62,998 people in the Assembly constituency. Kammas form the major vote bank in the constituency. Ruling and opposition parties prefer to field candidates from this community in the elections.

Kapus and BCs are equally strong in the constituency. This Assembly constituency is part of Krishna Western Delta region of Guntur district. Paddy, maize, black gram, green gram, horticulture crops are main crops in the constituency.

Tenali railway station has a train connection to Vijayawada and Chennai. Tenali is well known for education. Several tutorial colleges, corporate colleges etc came up here. JMG College in Tenali is well-known for education standards.

In the 2014 Assembly elections, TDP candidate Alapati Rajendra Prasad was elected to the Assembly. In the 2019 elections, Annabathuni Siva Kumar of YSRCP was elected.

As a part of JSP alliance with TDP, JSP political affairs committee chairman Dr Nadendla Manohar announced that he would contest in the Tenali in the coming Assembly elections. He started the groundwork and opened the party office in Tenali.

Former minister Alapati Rajedra Prasad eyed the TDP ticket. It is being speculated that TDP high command will shift him to the another Assembly constituency. Both leaders are participating in the party programmes. Sitting MLA Annabathuni Siva Kumar feels that caste equation and the welfare schemes would ensure his victory again. Rythu Bharosa Kendras, urban health centres and drains were constructed in the constituency in the last four-and-a-half years.

There is a demand from the public to upgrade the existing municipality as Tenali Municipal Corporation by merging surrounding villages to develop infrastructure. There is a need to develop the drains to get irrigation water to the tail-end lands. There is also need to develop internal roads in the town.