Amanchi family calls the shots in Chirala

Ongole: Once Chirala was the home ground for stalwarts like Pragada Kotaiah, Sajja Chandramouli and Konijeti Rosaiah. But now, politics in the Chirala Assembly constituency has become uncertain and volatile, but dependent on the Amanchi family. The TDP and Jana Sena alliance gives hope to Amanchi family members, while the YSRCP in-charge Karanam Venkatesh is busy wooing the local leaders.

Chirala is known as the Mini Mumbai, for its bustling activity of imports and exports from cotton yarn and dyes to woven clothes, dry fruits and pulses. The constituency is dominated by BCs, mostly from weavers’ communities and Yadavas, followed by Vysyas and other communities. The Chirala Assembly constituency came into existence in 1952 and sent the freedom fighter and weavers’ iconic leader Pragada Kotaiah to the Assembly.

Pragada Kotaiah served as the MLA of Chirala three times, in 1952 on the ticket of Kisan Mazdoor Praja Party, in 1955 and 1967 on the Indian National Congress Party ticket, while Jagarlamudi Lakshmi Narayana Chowdary of the Communist Party of India won in the 1962 elections.

G Kotaiah of INC won in 1972, Mutte Venkateswarlu of INC won in 1978, Sajja Chandramouli of Janata Party won in 1981 and Chimata Sambu, an independent, won in 1983 but joined TDP later.

In 1985, Sajja Chandramouli of TDP won in 1985, while Konijeti Rosaiah of Congress won in 1989. Paleti Ramarao of TDP won in 1994 and 1999, and Rosaiah won again in 2004.

Rosaiah gave away his place to make his follower Amanchi Krishna Mohan MLA in 2009. Krishna Mohan resigned from Congress but contested and won as Navataram Party candidate in 2014, and was defeated in 2019 by TDP candidate Karanam Balaram.

The Chirala constituency is a stronghold of Congress and TDP until recently, but the candidates started to switch loyalties deserting the party cadres and people that voted for them. After Pragada Kotaiah and Sajja Chandramouli, it is Amanchi Krishna Mohan who became the leader of the locals. But he shifted his loyalty from the Congress, Navataram Party, TDP and then to the YSR Congress Party, in the last 15 years. This switching of the Amanchi family from one party to another changed the political dynamics in the constituency, and whatever party he is in, it dominated the area.

Just before the 2019 elections, Amanchi Krishna Mohan jumped into YSRCP and made several allegations against TDP chief and former CM N Chandrababu Naidu and other TDP leaders. To save face, TDP brought Karanam Balarama Krishnamurthy to Chirala, and the party workers put all efforts into his victory. But, in the name of developing the constituency, Balaram supported YSRCP and joined his son Venkatesh in it.

Chirala Assembly constituency has a total of 1,90,830 voters in 2019, including 93,573 men and 97,245 women. Karanam Balaram won with a majority of 17,419 votes by receiving 83,901 votes as against 66,482 votes by Amanchi Krishna Mohan, even in the sweeping wave of YSRCP in 2019.

Now, YSRCP has Karanam Balaram and his son Venkatesh while TDP has MM Kondaiah as party in-charges.

Meanwhile, as YSRCP sent away Amanchi Krishna Mohan in to Parchur constituency as in-charge against his wishes, his brother Amanchi Swamulu joined the Jana Sena Party and seeking Chirala ticket. This political drama at Chirala put the common voter in a position of uncertainty to decide whom he must support.

As the TDP and Jana Sena Party are going together for elections, there is a huge chance that the Chirala constituency ticket will be given to Amanchi Swamulu or Krishna Mohan for sure, as they have a personal influence on more than 30,000 voters.

According to observers, the party which will be able get the support of voters loyal to Amanchi family will have brighter chances of winning Mini Mumbai.