Know Your MLA: Subba Raju bags Mummidivaram after a break

Rajamahendravaram: Datla Subba Raju emerged victorious from Mummidivaram Assembly constituency in the recent elections, for the second time. Apart from being a political leader, the 51-year-old is is also known in the field of film production.

He contested as MLA on behalf of TDP in the 2014 elections for the first time. In that election, he was elected to the Assembly with a majority of 29,500 votes.

During his tenure as TDP MLA for the first time from the seat during 2014-19, he initiated large-scale development works. According to him, the works were done at a cost of around Rs1,800 crore. Multi-purpose cyclone centres have been constructed at a cost of about Rs 40 crore in the Mummidivaram constituency, which is prone to floods every year. Drinking water facilities have been provided to many villages and CC roads were built. Although he expected to win the 2019 elections easily due to the development work done by him, Subba Raju faced disappointment.

He lost to YSRCP candidate Ponnada Satish Kumar by a margin of 5547 votes in the that elections. Pitani Balakrishna, who contested as a Jana Sena candidate in that election, secured more than 33,000 votes. Thus, the votes split between the two parties and the YSRCP was able to win. TDP and Jana Sena leaders Subba Raju and Balakrishna came to an agreement in this constituency during Nara Lokesh’s Yuva Galam Padayatra ahead of the 2024 elections. As part of the alliance, whoever contested, other would support him.

While this constituency was allotted to TDP in 2024, Subba Raju topped all surveys conducted by the party for the candidate selection and was fielded by the party.

He campaigned about the state reconstruction, employment opportunities and infrastructure development. Due to the coordination between TDP, Jana Sena and BJP, he won with the highest majority of 38736 votes in the history of the constituency.

It is remarkable that Subba Raju, who belongs to the Kshatriya community, won in the constituency of Mummidivaram which has a large population of fishermen. His affinity with the youth and his ability to get along with all castes facilitated his smooth sailing.