AP Assembly polls: Sivaprasad Reddy, Gottipati Lakshmi fight it out for Darsi

The Darsi Assembly constituency in Prakasam district of Andhra Pradesh is facing a typical dilemma over the politicians who claim to represent it. Where does the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) stand in this constituency?

The big question is why the party has not been able to depute an in-charge for the constituency. After the 2019 elections were over, N Chandrababu Naidu appointed Pamidi Ramesh from Ongole as in-charge of the constituency. As the locals opposed him, an attempt to replace him by Gorantla Ravikumar of Sriharshini College in Ongole also failed. The constituency was left without a TDP in-charge for four years.

Sitting YSRCP MLA Maddisetty Venugopal, who heads the Pace Educational Institutions in Ongole, won the election for the first time in 2019. After becoming an MLA, Venugopal was accused of giving more priority to his own welfare than the welfare of the workers. This time round, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and YSRCP chief YS Jagan Mohan Reddy did not give him a ticket. Instead, Sivaprasad Reddy is contesting from Darsi.

Miffed at the snub, Venugopal left YSRCP to join the TDP. However, the YSRCP cadre did not follow him, betraying his expectation.

TDP candidate Gottipati Lakshmi

TDP president Naidu has announced Gottipati Lakshmi as the party's candidate from the Darsi constituency. Last week, Lakshmi organised a huge rally at Darsi Kendra, with Addanki TDP MLA Gottipati Ravikumar, Ongole's sitting MP and TDP LS candidate Magunta Srinivasula Reddy and former Darsi MLA Narapushetti Paparao in attendance.

Locals said the voters who came to the attend the rally were more from Addanki, Narsaraope and Ongole than the Darsi constituency.

Lakshmi's father, ex-Martur MLA Gottipati Narasimha Rao, had a good rapport with the people of Mundlamuru Mandal when he was an MLA. Even though Rao died in 2013, there is sympathy among the people of the area. Addanki MLA Ravikumar also has a good relationship with the people of Mundlamuru Mandal, which is currently in Darsi constituency. This is said to be a plus point for TDP candidate Lakshmi, who is trying to impress the party cadre as well as voters in Darsi by capitalising on the sympathy people of the constituency have for her father.

TDP's vote bank intact

Despite the TDP not appointing an in-charge for the Darsi constituency for four years, the cadre and party workers are loyal to the party, it's being said.

There are about 2.23 lakh voters in the constituency. Political analysts estimate that there is a possibility of the TDP garnering one lakh votes, with YSRCP securing up to 1.10 lakh votes.

The electorate includes about 22,000 Balijas, 26,000 Kammas, 40,000 Reddys, 45,000 Scheduled Castes and 8,000 Arya Vaishyas, among other castes. Kamma and Reddy votes together outnumber other social groups, so it doesn’t matter of if a particular caste group will vote for the leader of that caste group.