Mild faction-ridden constituency deprived of major industries

Kurnool : Kodumur constituency in Kurnool district has been an SC reserved constituency since 1972. About 60% population here belong to the community.

This is also known as mild faction-ridden constituency due to low literacy rate and unemployment.

Kodumur has four mandals Gudur, Kodumur Rural, C Belagal including Kodumur. The mandal is totally dependent on agriculture sector. No major industries were set up in the constituency. The Reddy community had always been the dominating community when it comes to politics.

The constituency has a total voter strength of 2,31,940. Of these, there are 1,16,770 males, 1,16,157 females and 13 third gender. The interesting factor is, though the constituency is reserved for SCs anyone who wins would be under the control of Reddy community. The constituency shares the borders of Pathikonda and Yemmiganur. Kapatralla village in Pathikonda constituency is known for faction politics. Venkatappa Naidu a well known faction leader hails from this village. Kurnool district is known as the den for factionists. In 1972, D Muniswamy of the Indian National Congress was elected as Kodumur MLA. He was elected unanimously. Muniswamy as a Congress candidate was elected again in 1978 and 1983.

In 1978, Muniswamy defeated M Sikhamani of Congress-I. Later in 1983, Congress party’s Muniswamy defeated Sikhamani who contested the election as an Independent.

However in 1985, Sikhamani who contested as the TDP candidate beat Muniswamy of Congress by a majority of 6,435 votes.

Later in 1989, Sikhamani lost the election to Independent candidate M Madana Gopal. Sikhamani then shifted his loyalty to INC and successfully contested the 1994 election. He defeated his rival Bangi Anantaiah of TDP. M Sikhamani also won two more elections in 1999 and 2004.

In 2009, Paregala Murali Krishna contested from INC and defeated M Mani Gandhi (son of M Sikhamani) of TDP. But in 2014, Mani Gandhi managed to win the seat as a YSRCP candidate. He defeated his nearest rival of Bharatiya Janata Party Madharapu Renukamma. In 2019, Dr Jaradoddi Sudhakar who has also contested from YSR Congress party won the seat. He defeated his TDP rival Burla Ramanjaneyulu by a margin of 36,945 votes. Though the constituency has been an SC reserved constituency, members of the Reddy community wielded their power.

Presently Dr Jaradoddi Sudhakar is the MLA but the party constituency in-charge Kotla Harsha Vardhan Reddy is ruling the roost.