Mangalagiri gains significance following State bifurcation

Guntur : Mangalagiri Assembly constituency which comes under Tadepalli-Mangalagiri Municipal Corporation of Guntur district is well known for Mangalagiri cotton saris, chunnis and short chunnis.

Even West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and many film actresses patronise Mangalagiri cotton saris.

It also exports chunnis, short chunnis to Mumbai, New Delhi and even abroad. Duggirala Market Yard is famous for turmeric production. Farmers in the constituency produce paddy, banana, turmeric, and horticulture crops.

This constituency is also known for Panakala Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy temple, Bhramaramba Sametha Mallikarjuna Swamy temple and Pedakakani Dargah. Christian missionaries also conduct big conventions in Mangalagiri.

The constituency has 2,68,429 voters. Tadepalli, Mangalagiri and Duggirala mandals come under the constituency. Two communities - weavers and Kapus are a deciding factor in the Assembly elections. The constituency has greater significance after bifurcation of the State as the State Secretariat was set up at Velagapudi near Mangalgiri.

Similarly, the camp office-cum-residence of the present Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy is located in Tadepalli. TDP supremo stays at Undavalli which also falls under the constituency.

Even office of the DGP and other important government offices are located in Mangalagiri.

It has also become an important centre for educational institutions and has turned into a education hub. SRM, VIT, Acharya Nagarjuna University, KL University, NRI Medical College and All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) are located in the constituency.

Quarters for IAS & IPS officers and camp offices of several Ministers were set up at the Rain Tree Park in the constituency.

M S S Koteswara Rao (TDP) and Murugudu Hanumantha Rao (Congress) were elected to the State Legislative Assembly twice and worked as ministers. Subsequently, Hanumantha Rao has shifted his loyalty to the YSRCP and is currently an MLC.

Since the formation of the TDP, the party left the constituency to its alliance partners - the Left parties five times. Veteran actress late Jamuna contested as an INC candidate from the constituency and lost in 1985.

Highest number of applications were received for houses in the constituency during the YSR government’s rule under the Rajiv Gruhakalpa Scheme as Mangalgiri is located between Vijayawada and Guntur cities.

In the 2014 and 2019 Assembly elections, YSRCP candidate Alla Ramakrishna Reddy was elected to the State Legislative Assembly.

During the recent political developments, YSRCP high command appointed a Ganji Chirnajeevi as new in-charge for the Assembly constituency as BCs have strong influence in the constituency. His wife belongs to the Kapu community. The YSRCP leadership is of the opinion that the Kapus and BCs will extend their support to Chiranjeevi in the ensuing polls.

However, present YSRCP MLA Alla Ramakrishna Reddy is keen on contesting for a third time from the constituency and achieving a hat-trick. So far nobody has won for three consecutive times from the constituency.

In the 2019 elections, TDP national general secretary Nara Lokesh contested from the constituency and was defeated. He is likely to try his luck again this time.

When YSRCP was in opposition, the party supported the setting up of the State capital in Amaravati. But after coming to power in 2019, they came up with the three capitals formula and since then all works in Amaravati were brought to grinding halt. Farmers and others have been protesting since then objecting to the proposal of shifting of capital. This has become a major political issue and could cause problems for the YSRCP.