Amliineni reaches out to people with door-to-door campaign

Kalyandurgam (Anantapur district): Candidates of two main parties, TDP and the YSRCP, Amilineni Surendra Babu and Talari Rangaiah are busily engaged in their election campaigns.

Sitting MP Talari Rangaiah is the YSRCP candidate while Surendra Babu, a class A civil contractor is the TDP candidate. Surendra Babu tried in vain in the 2014 Assembly elections for his nomination. His candidature was changed in the last minute in favour of Hanumantharaya Chowdary.

However, TDP lost to YSRCP in 2019 elections and sitting MLA and minister Usha Sricharan won over against TDP. Usha Sricharan has been shifted to Penukonda and in her place, YSRCP Anantapur sitting MP Talari Rangaiah has been nominated as MLA candidate for Kalyanadurgam for the 2024 Assembly elections.

TDP candidate Surendra Babu is relatively new to politics and had been an ardent supporter and financier of the party. He is known to be a nice and kind-hearted man. He is a philanthropist reaching out to the poor and needy. He is reaching out to people door-to-door and explaining to people with a promise to fulfil all demands of the people. Having started his political career with a clean slate, he has the advantage of campaigning on a positive note. He also has advantage of having financial resources to finance his campaigns and take care of the party workers’ welfare.

Surendra is pointing out that the YSRCP government had failed miserably to complete the Bhairavanitippa (BT) project. He is assuring the people that, if elected, he would take the responsibility to complete the project with the help of the state government. The Bhairavanitippa irrigation project completion had been the long pending demand of the constituency. The sitting MLA Usha Sricharan having served as a minister in the Jagan Mohan Reddy Cabinet could not get funds for the BT project completion. The

new YSRCP MLA candidate Talari Rangaiah has a good track record of performance as an MP. The project has emerged as an election issue and the TDP is finding fault with the present government for failing to complete the irrigation project.

He had a fine record as an excellent bureaucrat when he worked as the DRDA project officer in the district. People have immense faith in his work and as a non-controversial man. He is pro-active and accessible to people and party workers always.

The constituency has 2.20 lakh voters spread over the mandals of Bramhadanudram, Suttur, Kalyandurgam, Kundurpi and Kambadur. The Assembly constituency of Kalyandurgam in its 70-year-history had elected independents, Congress Party, Janatha Party, CPI, TDP and YSRCP candidates. The constituency was formed in 1951 and in 1952, elected its first MLA from the Congress Party. Subsequently, Congress candidates won in 1972, 1989 and 2009. In 2009, Congress ex-minister N Raghuveera Reddy won from the constituency. In 1967, it elected an independent candidate Mareppa.

In 1978, Janatha Party candidate Narasappa won. In 1985, CPI candidate Pakeerappa won. The TDP candidates won from the constituency in 1983, 1994, 1999, 2004 and 2014 terms. In 2019, YSRCP candidate K V Usha Sricharan won against her TDP rival Hanumantharaya Chowdary amidst the high tide Jagan wave.