Many stalwarts represented Repalle

Guntur : Repalle has an interesting history of being represented by some stalwarts like former Member of Rajya Sabha Moturu Hanumantha Rao, former member of Rajya Sabha Makineni Basava Punnaiah, Koratala Satyanarayana, Yadla Venkata Rao, Yadam Chennaiah, Mummaneni Venkata Subbaiah and Devineni Mallikarjuna Rao.

Now after bifurcation of the state, Rajya Sabha member Mopidevi Venkata Ramana Rao, minister for water resources Ambati Rambabu, sitting MLA Angani Satya Prasad represented it.

This constituency is part of Bapatla Lok Sabha constituency in the newly formed Bapatla district. Moturu Hanumantha Rao served as MLA, MLC and Rajya Sabha member Yadla Venkata Rao was elected to the state Assembly on Congress ticket in 1972, and 1983 and 1985, he was elected on TDP ticket.

Yadam Chennaiah was elected from this constituency in 1955 and1967 Assembly elections on Congress ticket. Mummaneni Venkata Subbaiah was elected from this constituency in 1994 and1999 on TDP ticket..

Rajya Sabha member Mopidevi Venkata Ramana Rao was elected three times to the Assembly from Kuchinapudi and Repalle Assembly constituencies.. He served as MPP and as a minister in the Congress government in undivided Andhra Pradesh.

He was elected from Kuchinapudi Assembly constituency which was abolished in the delimitation. He was the first minister from the state who was arrested by the CBI in the VANPIC case.

Though he was defeated in the 2019 Assembly elections, he got a berth in the Cabinet and became minister. Later, he was elected to the Legislative Council and later elected to the Rajya Sabha.

Nizampatnam, Nagaram, Cherukupalli and Repalle mandals come under this Assembly constituency. There are 1,94,748 voters in the constituency. Fishermen and BCs are the deciding factors in the constituency. Angani Satya Prasad and Evuru Ganesh are BCs.

Farmers produce prawn, turmeric, paddy, and vegetables. In Bhattiprolu, the weavers produce cotton saris. There are over 15,000 weaver families residing in Bhattiprolu. There is a need to construct cold storage units for the convenience of the fishermen.

At present, the state government is developing Nizampatnam harbour. Former chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy had a proposal to develop Vadaveru and Nizampatnam Industrial Corridor (VANPIC). This proposal was not translated into action. Recently the Central government developed a coastal highway connecting Chirala, Bapatla, Repalle and Machilipatnam to reduce the traffic on the NH-5. Puligadda Varadhi connecting Bapatla and Krishna districts. M.Ps demanded the Central government to extend train connectivity between Repalle and Machilipatnam.

If this proposal is translated into action, the distance between Machilipatnam and Tirupati, Chennai will reduce. TDP decided to field the sitting MLA Angani Satya Prasad who is contesting for third time from this constituency.

Meanwhile, ruling party YSRCP has selected Evuru Ganesh as the party candidate for the constituency. Anagani Satya Prasad is conducting the party's programmes and highlighting the failures of the YSRCP government. On the other hand, Evuru Ganesh is campaigning of the welfare schemes being implemented by the YSRCP government.