Mood of Rayalaseema

••TDP increases prospects due to anti-incumbency as an open secret

••Internal disturbances new threat 

Patibandla Srinivas

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Amaravati: Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy and former Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu started the election campaign from Rayalaseema districts this time. Now the political weather is turning hot while everyone discusses the prospects of the two parties.

It may be noted that the TDP had won only a mere three Assembly seats in the last general elections. TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu, film hero Nandamuri Balakrishna, and Payuyavula Keshav only registered victories. In contrast, YSR Congress registered a landslide victory and won 49 Assembly and 8 Lok Sabha seats in Kurnool, Kadapa, Chittoor, and Anantapur districts under the purview of Rayalaseema districts.

Now the debate begins in the political circles across the state about the prospects of the two parties. Already the TDP entered into an election alliance with Jana Sena and BJP as NDA partners. As a result, the TDP has increased its chances in northern Andhra and Godavari, Krishna, and Guntur districts.

Against this backdrop, the Rayalaseema districts are important to the YSR Congress. But it is an open secret that the TDP has increased its prospects including in the Rayalaseema districts. But the seats allotment has turned into a big threat to the chances of TDP. Now the time has come to seriously focus on the internal disturbances. It is high time the TDP answered them by having consultations with them to pacify.  

As per the ground reports, the TDP has also emerged as a strong contender in half of the seats in the four districts. If the anti-incumbency influences the TDP may get more share, a senior leader said.

The TDP has increased prospects in Anantapur drastically and is somewhat better compared with the previous elections in the remaining three districts of Kurnool, Kadapa, and Chittoor. The TDP candidates are in a strong position in several Assembly segments, like in the 2019 elections.   

However, the TDP is facing a serious threat from the seat allotment. Some disturbances are in Satyavedu, Thamballapalle, Tirupati, Srikalahasti, Aluru, Guntakal, Madakasira, Anantapur urban, and Dharmavaram Assembly segments.   

It is an evident example of the changed situation that the YSR Congress leaders started bets about who would get majority seats whether TDP or YSR Congress. The YSR Congress strongly hopes to win 35 seats of the total 62 seats in Rayalaseema including Nellore.