Ongole lacks bullish push for development

There has always a nagging feeling among the people that successive governments are pampering Guntur and Nellore at the expense of Ongole Assembly constituency in terms of development.

Ongole town has been waiting for development for decades. As the migration to the town has increased, several slums that sprang up in the suburbs are yet to see basic amenities.

In summer, the people in the slum colonies suffer from drinking water shortage, mosquitoes and power cuts in in monsoon, flash floods from Pothuraju Kalva make life tougher. As most of the houses are makeshift ones, they people are also victims of cold nights in the winter.

The promises of decent housing to the poor and eligible families in the town have remained unfulfilled for decades. Though the TDP government sanctioned TIDCO houses, they were neither distributed to the beneficiaries nor house sites were handed over by the YSRCP government.

It is in Ongole town only in the state the housing activity was held up for several reasons, including court cases. Modernisation of Pothuraju Kalva, completion of drinking water pipelines, fishing harbour at Kothapatnam beach and streamlining of traffic in the town, are just a few demands from the locals but they remain dreams for years.

Ongole Assembly constituency came into existence when the Andhra region was part of the Madras state, and Communist Party of India leader Kasukurti Malakondaiah was elected as first MLA.

After the formation of Andhra state in 1953, the son of this soil, Andhra Kesari Tanguturi Prakasam Pantulu was appointed as the chief minister of the state and won as the MLA in the elections held in 1955 from the Indian National Congress.

After the death of Prakasam Panthulu in 1957, Bollineni Venkata Lakshmi Narayana, an independent, had won the hearts of the locals in the byelection. He also won for second time in 1962.

Five years later in 1967, the constituency became a stronghold of Congress when C R Reddy got elected once and Srungarapu Jeevaratnam Naidu was elected twice.

In TDP wave in 1983, Ponugupati Koteswara Rao won the seat and retained it in 1985. Bachala Balaiah from INC won in 1989, but Edara Haribabu from TDP wrested the seat in 1994.

Since the late 90s, Balineni Srinivasa Reddy, who is from a local entrepreneur’s family and a distant relative of Congress leader YS Rajasekhara Reddy, gained grip over Ongole as MLA. He won the polls four times in 1999, 2004 and 2009 from Congress and 2012 byelections from YSRCP. Damacharla Janardhana Rao, a grandson of former minister Damacharla Anjaneyulu of Kondapi, won in 2014 from TDP and lost to Srinivasa Reddy of YSRCP again in 2019.

Ongole constituency consists of Ongole and Kothapatnam mandals and has 2,29,462 electors, including 1,11,315 men, 1,18,114 women and 33 third gender voters.

The constituency is dominated by Kammas with about 60,000 voters, followed by about 40,000 SCs, 35,000 Kapus, 25000 Yadavas and 20000 Vysyas.

Balineni Srinivasa Reddy won in 2019 with 1,01,022 votes against Damacharla Janardhana Rao with a majority of 22,245 votes. Shaik Reyaz from the Jana Sena Party got 10,304 votes, about 5.31 per cent of the total polled votes.

Of late, fraying of Balineni Srinivasa Reddy’s ties with Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy and YV Subbareddy has cast a doubt over his possible candidature.

There is also speculation that Balineni Srinviasa Reddy may contest as rebel candidate or as Jana Sena nominee if he is denied YSRCP ticket. In such scenario, TDP candidate Janardhan Rao may be shifted to Kandukur.