Hindupur LS Constituency: Ex-Bellary MP Shantha is YSRCP candidate

Anantapur: Hindupur Lok Sabha constituency with a population of 14,46,496 voters isspread in seven Assembly segments of Raptadu, Madakasira, Hindupur,Penukonda, Puttaparthi, Dharmavaram and Kadiri.

Sitting MP Kuruva Gorantla Madhav, police officer-turned-politician had won as MP for the first time representing YSRCP in 2019 general elections. This time the party has denied ticket to him for 2024 Parliament elections in view of his controversial style of functioning.

YSRCP is fielding J Shantha as its MP candidate for Hindupur for2024 election. She is an ex-MP from Bellary but native of Guntakal in Anantapurdistrict. She is the sister of former BJP Minister Sreeramulu, a closeassociate of mining baron Gali Janardhan Reddy.

She joined the YSRCP in thepresence of Chief Minister YSJagan Mohan Reddy at the behest of RajampetaMP Mithun Reddy.She hails from Boya community, which has a strong presence in the district.

Shantha was a BJP MP from Bellary in 2009 and she unsuccessfully contested asMP in a 2018 by-election from Bellary. She preferred to contest fromHindupur in view of her strong connections in the border town of Karnataka.

This MP constituency is actually a stronghold of TDP. The Telugu Desam Party is likely to give ticket to Nimmala Kistappa, who is a senior leader and served two terms as MP. He is non-controversial and accessible to people and partyworkers. Of course, there are no takers for Parliamentary constituency asevery leader in the party vies for contesting in only Assemblyconstituencies. So Nimmala is in all probability will be the party'scandidate once again, unless there are last minute developments like BJPjoining the TDP-JSP alliance and demanding the seat for its candidate. Nimmala had won in 2009 and 2014 but lost in 2019.

Hindupurconstituency is 65 years old and was founded in 1957. In 1957 and 1962,one KV Rama Krishna Reddy, an independent, served as the MP. In 1967, former President of India Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy won as MP from theconstituency.

Congress candidates Bayapa Reddy won as MP in 1971, 1977 and 1980 and SGangadhar in 1988 and G Nizamuddin in 2004. In 1984, TDP candidate KRamachandra Reddy won from the constituency.