Whose bastion will Tekkali be?

Srikakulam: Tekkali Assembly constituency assumes high importance as far as the elections are concerned as it is one of the most prestigious constituencies for YSRCP since it is represented by TDP state president Kinjarapu Atchannaidu. The YSRCP wants to ensure that TDP candidate is defeated here, otherwise they may fall short of ‘why not 175’ target. Hence, the ruling party is laying special focus on this constituency. But the party had to face lot of dissent as early as June this year when the entire rank and file of YSRCP was up in arms when the party announced its decision to field Duvvada Srinivas as its candidate.

The party leaders here were unhappy with the decision and said the fight now would be for only 174 seats as it can forget Tekkali. This forced the ruling party leadership to opt for Duvvada Vani, wife of Srinivas, to calm down the discontent in the party.

Tekkali since 1983 has always been the stronghold of TDP whose candidate won this seat eight times.

In 1983 TDP candidate, Attada Janardhana Rao won with 19,716 votes majority by defeating Congress candidate, Sattaru Lokanadham Naidu. In 1985 Varada Saroja won with 21,571 votes majority defeating Congress candidate, Duvvada Venkata Ramana Rao. In 1989, Duvvada Nagavali TDP won with 7,434 votes of majority by defeating Congress candidate, Sattaru Lokanadham Naidu.

In the next elections in 1994, N T Rama Rao contested from here and won with 40,890 majority defeating Congress candidate Vajja BabuRao. Continuing the winning spree, in 1995 TDP candidate Hanumanthu Appayya Dora won with 22,197 margin trouncing Congress candidate Peerupalli Visweswara Rao.

In1999 again TDP candidate Korla RevathiPathi won with 3,392 majority by defeating Congress candidate Hanumanthu Appayya Dora.

The Congress wave in 2004 had put a brake to this situation as Congress candidate Hanumanthu Appayya Dora won with 17,271 votes majority defeating TDP candidate Sattaru Lokanadham Naidu.

In 2009 again Congress candidate Korla Revathipathi won with 1,893 majority by defeating TDP candidate Kinjarapu Atchannaidu. Naidu also tasted defeat in the bypolls the same year in the hands of Korla Bharati, wife of Revathipathi.

In 2014 elections, TDP bounced back and Atchannaidu won with 8,387 margin defeating YSRCP candidate, Duvvada Srinivas. He also won the 2019 elections when there was near sweep by YSRCP in the state.

This time, it’s not going to be a cakewalk for YSRCP for various reasons, including the high midnight drama that had taken place at the house of Atchannaidu and the manner in which he was arrested and sent to jail and the failure of the government to resolve even basic problems had made the people unhappy. Nevertheless, this constituency seems to be poised for an interesting battle.