Ongole: Santhanuthalapadu, a battle field for non-local politicos

Ongole : Santhanuthalapadu, one of the SC reserved Assembly constituencies in Prakasam district, has become a turf for the fight between non-local political leaders for the last three times. In the 2024 elections, the fight will be between non-local leaders B N Vijay Kumar from TDP and Merugu Nagarjuna from YSRCP.

Santhanuthalapadu Assembly constituency, constating of Naguluppalapadu, Maddipadu, Chimakurti and Santhanuthalapadu mandals, was formed as part of the delimitation of the constituencies in 1962. Since then, the CPI and Congress had been influential in the region until the TDP was formed in 1983. Prominent leader of CPI Thavanam Chenchaiah is the first MLA from the constituency, followed by VC Kesavarao, Areti Kotaiah and Vema Yellaiah from Congress.

In the 1983 elections, Areti Kotaiah defeated Congress candidate Vema Yellaiah as an independent and supported TDP. In 1985, TDP candidate Kasukurti Adenna won the seat, followed by Gurrala Venkata Seshu from Congress in 1989, Thavanam Chenchaiah from CPM in 1994, Palaparti David Raju from TDP in 1999 and Dara Sambaiah from Congress in 2004.

Since the 2009 elections, the constituency has become the camp constituency for the non-local politicians. BN Vijay Kumar, a local of the Giddalur constituency won from Santhanuthalapadu in 2009 on a Congress ticket, followed by YSRCP candidates Dr Audimulapu Suresh from Markapuram in 2014 and TJR Sudhakar Babu of Guntur district in 2019.

For the 2024 elections, the YSRCP has already announced minister Merugu Nagarjuna as the candidate from Santhanuthalapadu. TDP is getting ready with its consistent candidate since 2014, BN Vijay Kumar.

Though Santhanuthalapadu has been an SC-reserved constituency since 1972, it is dominated by Kamma voters. The SCs and fishermen community have significance presence followed by the BCs, Reddys and Kapus.

There are a total of 2,11,557 electors, including 1,04,737 male and 1,06,812 female voters in the Assembly constituency in 2019. Of the total 1,80,290 valid votes polled, Sudhakar Babu received 89160 against Vijay Kumar received 80,082, and won with a majority of 5.03 per cent vote share. As Vijay Kumar of TDP has received about 80,000 votes for the last two terms, the local poll pundits are assessing that he may get another 10,000 votes due to the TDP and Jana Sena Party alliance in 2024, which would give the majority to win.

Santhanuthalapasu Assembly constituency is part of the Bapatla Parliament constituency but is in the Prakasam district, as it is a crucial support region for Ongole. Being the home to the world-famous black galaxy granite, the constituency generates more revenue for the government. Most of the political leaders in the district are partners in the granite industries.

The granite mines and processing units employ about 15,000 migrant workers from Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Odisha, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, etc., but most of them didn’t register for votes locally and are reluctant to local politics. The workers in the granite companies demand the government to see safe infrastructure provided in the mines and processing units and make sure their jobs are not affected by the policy issues, but their voices are not being heard as they do have not much influence on the voting.

The Gundlakamma project, which can provide irrigation water to more than 80,000 acres and drinking water to Ongole, is a cause of agitation for the locals. As two gates of the project were damaged and the stored water was released into the sea, the farmers of chilli and tobacco are demanding the government to get the gates repaired immediately. The locals also demand for the roads, and infrastructure in villages along with the drinking and irrigation water supply in time.

Though Santhanuthalapadu seems to be a stronghold of YSRCP, there are different groups of people opposing and supporting the ruling party. Until recently, some local body leaders opposed their MLA Sudhakar Babu but were silent on the directions of Ongole MLA Balineni Srinivasa Reddy.

Meanwhile, the announcement on appointment of Merugu Nagarjuna as the in-charge of the constituency disturbed some leaders who started to oppose him. They said that they supported Sudhakar Babu at the behest of Balineni Srinivasa Reddy, and are ready to support Nagarjuna also but only after they get the consent of their leader. They are indirectly hinting that they are with the party as long as Balineni Srinivasa Reddy is an influential leader in it.