YSRCP eyes a hat-trick in Railway Kodur

Kadapa: The Railway Kodur Assembly constituency to witness keen contest between the YSRCP and TDP in the forthcoming elections.

The YSRCP is likely to field sitting MLA Koramutla Srinivasulu and TDP is considering the names of P Narasimha Prasad, son-in-law of former Chittoor MP Dr N Sivaprasad and Annapurna, daughter-in-law of former Railway Kodur MLA B Chennaiah. The TDP leader B Chengal Raidu has recommended the name of Annapurna for party leadership.

The TDP candidates T Penchalaiah (1989), V Chennaiah (1994) and S Saraswathi (1999) got elected from Railway Kodur. The Railway Kodur Assembly segment falls under Rajampet Lock Sabha constituency. Dr G Venkateswara Prasad and Koramutla Srinivasulu of Congress had won in 2004 and 2009 elections respectively.

In 2014 elections, Koramutla Srinivasulu from Congress and contested on YSRCP ticket. He defeated his nearest TDP rival Obili Subbaramaiah with a thin margin of 1,972 votes. Koramutla wants to win from Railway Kodur for third time on YSRCP ticket. In Railway Kodur, the total electorate is 1,76,660 in which 85,549 are male and 91,090 are female. The rural concentration is more in the constituency with 98.07 per cent and only 1.93 per cent falls into urban category.

As per 2011 census, the population of Schedule Caste (SC) is 23.33 per cent and Scheduled Tribe (ST) is 6.18 per cent. There was close contest between TDP and Congress from 1989 to 2004 elections. With the entry of Praja Rajya Party (PRP), Railway Kodur witnessed triangular contest in 2009 elections. In 2014, contest was between only TDP and YSRCP.

The BJP, Left, and independent candidates have contested in all these elections to prove their political existence. In 2019 elections too, the TDP and YSRCP will be main rivals despite Congress and Jana Sena fielding its candidates. A senior TDP leader told The Hans India that his party had lost with a margin of 2 per cent. He exuded confidence of TDP winning Railway Kodur constituency this time.