Unstable leadership in Parchur costing dearer to YSRCP

Ongole: Parchur Assembly constituency, the stronghold of Telugu Desam Party for the last few years, is a shore yet unreachable for YSR Congress Party. While TDP leadership is stable and content in Parchuru, the actions of YSRCP are boosting internal group politics and damaging the chances of winning.

Parchur Assembly constituency consists of six mandals, including Yaddanapudi, Parchuru, Karemchedu, Inkollu, Chinaganjam and Martur, and Kammas form majority of population, followed by Kapus, BCs and SCs. In 2019, out of the total 2,01,245 voters in the constituency, it was reported that nearly 80,000 were Kammas. This is the main reason for the political parties for giving priority to Kamma candidates since the formation of the constituency in 1955.

Indian National Congress candidate Kolla Ramaiah in 1955, followed by Naraharisetty Venkataswamy of CPI had won in 1962, and Gade Venkatareddy in 1967. Gade Venkatareddy lost consecutively five times to Maddukuri Narayana Rao in 1972 and 1978, Daggubati Chowdary in 1983 and Daggubati Venkateswara Rao in 1985 and 1989 but won two times in 1991 and 1994. He was defeated again by Jagarlamudi Lakshmi Padmavati in 1999 and retired from Parchuru politics.

Daggubati Venkateswara Rao joined Congress and won in 2004 and 2009 elections. After the formation of YSRCP, Gottipati Bharat and Daggubati Venkateswara Rao contested on their ticket, but Yeluri Sambasiva Rao of TDP registered victory. In 2019, Sambasiva Rao won with 96,077 votes against Venkateswara Rao, who secured 94,574 votes, with a margin of 1,647 votes.

Overall, Gade Venkatareddy and Daggubati Venkateswara Rao used to rule Parchur Assembly constituency as voters chose between Congress and TDP. The YSRCP, which has been defeated by TDP for the last two times by a small margin of votes, striving hard to lure voters but falling behind due to the change of leaders.

In 2014, YSRCP fielded Gottipati Bharat against TDP’s Yeluri Sambasiva Rao to win the hearts of Kammas but failed. Sambasiva Rao secured 97,248 votes and defeated Bharat with a majority of 10,775 votes.

In the recent past, YSRCP convinced Daggubati family, though Daggubati Purandeswari is in BJP and working as a Union Minister of State, and tried to launch the son of Purandeswari and Venkateswara Rao, Hitesh Chenchuram. But, due to citizenship issues, Hitesh was dropped as the candidate, and Venkateswara Rao’s candidature was finalised in the last few days. Venkateswara Rao caused significant damage to TDP and reduced the majority to just 1,647, a narrow escape for Sambasiva Rao.

Considering the facts and situations in the constituency, YSRCP encouraged Ravi Ramanatham Babu of TDP to join its flock and made him the in-charge after 2019. But later due to the political turmoil in Chirala, YSRCP shifted Amanchi Krishna Mohan to Parchur to woo the Kapus and other sections of voters, as the attempts to split Kamma votes failed twice. Though Krishna Mohan was also not happy with the change, but followed the party orders, while Ramanatham Babu’s group started to make complaints about falling behind in the constituency. This internal war further dropped the graph of YSRCP, while TDP’s Yeluri Sambasiva Rao earned name and fame as the people’s man.

Between 2014 and 2019, Yeluri Sambasiva Rao put in all efforts to develop the constituency. Apart from developing infrastructure in villages, he was successful in constructing NTR Varadhi, connecting Rajubangarupalem and Pedaganjam, making the dream of more than 20,000 voters come true. Having a master's degree in horticulture and agripreneur, he took up many development activities, and encouraged farmers to install solar motor pump sets to be independent.

Now, the locals complain that the development of the constituency took a hard halt after 2019, by the YSRCP government. Though the YSRCP in-charges in other constituencies are busy in convincing the officials to take up some work for their benefit, Parchur is left behind due to lack of leadership for the ruling party.

These facts and factors are making the chances of YSR Congress Party meagre, while the TDP’s candidate is proving his strength day by day in the constituency.