Meka dynasty dominates Nuzvid, the land of zamindars

Vijayawada: Nuzvid region was ruled by the Meka dynasty who were the zamindars of the region. They had dominated politics here for over six decades.

Meka is the surname of the dynasty and has been the most popular family which enjoyed the support of the people for over six decades. Meka Rangaiah Apparao, Zamindar of Nuzvid, was the stalwart leader for two decades from 1952 to 1972 and was elected five times consecutively.

Meka Rangaiah Apparao is the son of Meka Venkatadri Apparao, a zamindar, and was born in Nuzvid. He was the vice-chancellor of Andhra University and became member of the Rajya Sabha. As Congress candidate, Meka Rangaiah Apparao had defeated the CPI candidate and independents and was elected five times. Rangaiah was popularly known as MR Appa Rao and was the most popular leader in Nuzvid. MR Apparao had promoted educational institutions.

Meka Rangaiah Apparao was the minister in the Cabinet of Congress chief ministers of Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy, Kasu Brahmananda Reddy.

Kotagiri Hanumantha Rao a prominent TDP leader was elected four times from Nuzvid constituency in 1983,1985, 1994 and 1999. Hanumantha Rao had contested as an independent candidate in 1983 and won the elections by defeating Paladugu Venkata Rao of Congress. Hanumantha Rao and Venkatarao dominated the Nuzvid politics from 1978 to 1999 for around two decades.

YSRCP leader and the present MLA of Nuzvid Meka Venkata Pratap Apparao belongs to the same family and was elected thrice to the Assembly in 2004, 2014 and 2019 respectively. Meka dynasty belongs to Velama caste and possesses vast lands.

In the past, Paladugu Venkata Rao was elected twice in 1978 and 1989. By and large only five leaders were elected for Nuzvid seat in over six decades of politics. Chinnam Ramakotaiah was elected from Nuzvid in 2009 elections.

Congress leader Paladugu Venkata Rao was also in the state cabinet in the cabinet of T Anjaiah, Bhavanam Venkataram, Kotla Vijay Bhaskar Reddy and Nedurumalli Janardhan Reddy.

Nuzvid is well known for horticulture crops like mangoes, guava, sapota and other crops like paddy and oil palm. Banginapalli mangoes which got international recognition for taste and quality. The delicious mangoes are exported to other countries in summer.

Nuzvid zamindars ruled the region for more than 300 years till independence in 1948. Though Nuzvid is considered as land of zamindar there is no development and prosperity in the region. There is a scope for setting up food processing industries. But neither the local entrepreneurs nor the outsiders had come forward to invest capital for setting up industries and promote food processing industries.

Mango gardens spread over several thousand acres in Nuzvid region helped farmers earn revenue. But, natural calamities like unexpected rains, adverse weather conditions, pest attacks badly affected the mango crop in recent years causing heavy losses to the mango farmers.

Nuzvid town and nearby areas were separated from Krishna district and merged with Eluru district after reorganisation of districts after YSRCP came to power. Nuzvid people used to visit Krishna district headquarters Machilipatnam for administrative purposes for many decades. Now, they are going to Eluru as it is the district headquarters.

Nuzvid got statewide recognition in education after setting up IIIT and providing technical education to several thousand students. Dr Y S Rajasekhar Reddy had set up the IIIT in Nuzvid.

Commercial activity did not increase in Nuzvid for several decades because of its proximity to Vijayawada. Local people mostly visit Vijayawada for shopping purposes during the marriages and festival seasons. Consequently, the local consumer market did not develop. The region still mainly depends on horticulture and agriculture for livelihood. Cultivation of oil palm is also growing in recent years in the region.