All eyes on Kuppam ahead of CM's maiden visit on Sept 22

Kuppam (Chittoor District): The remote constituency Kuppam in Chittoor district has become a battleground for both YSRCP and TDP with both the parties trying hard to gain upper hand much ahead of the next Assembly elections. It attracts the focus of the entire State as the constituency has been represented by TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu since 1989.

After winning seven times consecutively, Naidu is getting ready to win eighth time in his stronghold while the ruling YSRCP has been making a determined bid to capture the seat in the next elections. The party has eyed this seat since it recorded a huge victory in the 2019 elections and formed the government in the State and used every opportunity to show its strength since then.

The Minister for Forests, Energy, Mines and Environment Peddireddi Ramachandra Reddy seems to have taken it personally to defeat Naidu at any cost next time as their personal rivalry from student days has been continuing even today. The party has made inroads into the constituency already by defeating the TDP in the elections to local bodies and municipality and has been trying to attract village level TDP workers to join its fold.

While Naidu has been lamenting that the government was neglecting the constituency completely with its vindictive attitude, to counter this, the government has recently sanctioned Rs 66 crore for development works in Kuppam municipality. Also, Naidu has been criticising the government for not taking up this Kuppam branch canal during the last three-and-half years. Again, Peddireddi assured that they will complete it before going for next elections which shows that the government was serious on gaining upper hand in Kuppam.

To consolidate their efforts further, Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has chosen Kuppam to conduct a State-wide official programme 'YSR Cheyutha' on September 22. The Chief Minister personally focussing on the ex-CM's constituency is grabbing everyone's attention. Interestingly, it will be Jagan's first ever visit to Kuppam as he did not go there even during his Padayatra.

Needless to say, the Chief Minister has made the party's Kuppam in-charge KRG Bharath as MLC and even announced his candidature for the Assembly elections already. He even went a step ahead and announced that Bharat will be made a Minister if he wins Kuppam seat to motivate the cadres.

The party's confidence in Kuppam could be dated back to 2014 elections in which its candidate K Chandramouli, a farmer IAS officer and father of Bharath secured more than 55,000 votes. Before that, the Congress candidates have not crossed the 50,000 mark. In 2019, YSRCP's Chandramouli secured 69,424 votes which is 38.25 percent of the total votes polled.

While it sent shockwaves to TDP, it also boosted the morale of the ruling party based on which it started moving things in its favour. The leaders were of the view that they have already succeeded in giving shocks to Naidu which could be seen from his regular visits to Kuppam in the recent past.

During his upcoming visit, the Chief Minister is expected to announce more sops to the constituency to consolidate the positive vibes in favour of his party. Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Minister K Narayana Swamy and Peddireddi Ramachandra Reddy reviewed the CM's tour arrangements at Kuppam R & B guest house on Monday. ZP Chairman Govindappa Srinivasulu, Collector M Hari Narayanan, SP Rishanth Reddy, Talasila Raghu Ram and others took part. They asked the officials to make foolproof arrangements for the Chief Minister's visit.