TDP hopes split vote will bring them luck

Visakhapatnam: All eyes are on the tiny town of Narasannapeta located on the outskirts of Srikakulam where the three political parties are fighting for supremacy in the by-elections.

While supporters of Minister Dharmana Prasada Rao claim that Narasannapeta would be the first constituency or the only constituency where the Congress candidate Dharmana Ramdas would win with a comfortable majority, Minister's younger brother and sitting MLA Dharmana Krishnadas claims he would win hands-down as the people were vexed with the Congress and vote for YSRCP for change and to end the political uncertainty.

While the brothers fight for supremacy, the Telugu Desam candidate Simma Swamy Babu, an engineer by profession and said to be a political novice, might emerge as a favourite.

'I am not new to politics. Though I worked as an engineer in different parts of the country since 1992, I never lost touch with the people. Even I take part in panchayat elections,' Swamy Babu told this correspondent.

His paternal uncle Simma Jagannadham, a prominent leader of Swatantra Party in the region, represented the Narasannapeta Assembly constituency from 1955 to 1972.

A strong opponent of the Congress, Jagannadham sowed the seeds of good governance in the region, Babu says. Even his father-in-law, Boggu Laxmana Rao, is a senior leader of the TDP and won from the constituency in 1994.

Currently embarked on visiting every door in the constituency, Swamy Babu says that he would complete touring 400 odd villages under 139 panchayats in four mandals of Saravakota, Narasannapeta, Polaki and Jalumuru by the end of this month.

He too claims that the voters were fed up of the Congress and YSRCP and says that both are two sides of the same coin. Dharmana Krishnadas is purely banking on sympathy votes.

His followers say that the Congress won in the last two general elections due to the schemes launched by Dr YS Rajasekhara Reddy.

YSR Congress Party observer for Narasannapeta GV Ravi Raju says the rural population strongly believes that the welfare schemes have been snatched away from them after the untimely death of YS Rajasekhara Reddy.

'The government's meek attempt to book cases against Jagan will also boomerang on the Congress to make it easy for Krishnadas,' Ravi Raju said.

Koppala Velamas dominate the constituency comprising 40 per cent of the 1.7 lakh voters followed by Kalingas and Srisayana. All the three candidates belong to Koppala Velama and in fact Swamy Babu is related to Dharmana's family.