It is uphill task for Ramesh, Parthasarathy

Vijayawada: Housing minister and YSRCP leader Jogi Ramesh and senior politician and three-time MLA Kolusu Parthasarathy are facing the heat of dissidence in Penamaluru Assembly constituency of Krishna district.

Ramesh is the sitting MLA of Pedana Assembly constituency. The YSRCP has appointed him in-charge of the Penamaluru Assembly constituency. Since the announcement by the party, Ramesh has been facing embarrassing situation as the local leaders are openly declaring that they would not support him nor co-operate. Padamati Suresh Babu was the in-charge of the YSRCP Penamaluru constituency for the past few years. He has done a ground work to contest from Penamaluru seat.

But, the appointment of Jogi Ramesh as the in-charge of Penamaluru constituency has shocked Suresh Babu and his followers. Ramesh won from Pedana in 2009 and 2019. He was given the portfolio of housing minister after the reshuffle. He hails from Gowda caste and one of the senior BC leaders of erstwhile Krishna district.

Ramesh has strongly lobbied for Mylavaram Assembly constituency but the party leadership denied in-charge post to him and instead was offered Penamaluru. The constituency is the stronghold for both Kamma and backward classes. Since appointment as the in-charge of Penamaluru, the housing minister has been trying to go ahead with the local YSRCP and requesting the local leaders to co-operate to win the contest. But how far he will get their co-operation is not known.

Kolusu Parthasarathy, who won three times from Penamaluru and former minister won from Penamaluru in 2019 elections. But he is not happy with the party leadership and made ground work to join the TDP, which is planning to field him from Penamaluru.

He is also facing dissidence from the local TDP leader Bode Prasad and his followers. Bode Prasad was elected from Penamaluru in 2014 and is eagerly waiting to contest again from Penamaluru in the ensuing elections.

Surprisingly, the party has reportedly decided to field Parthasarathy. So far, the TDP officially has not announced the candidature of Parthasarathy. But it is widely assumed that Parthasarathy will contest from the seat for which preparations are underway for the past few days. Parthasarathy already quit the YSRCP and made some negative comments against the present paddy procurement policy of the state government.

Parthasarathy may also face the same problem at present as Jogi Ramesh. Compared to Ramesh, the position of Parthasarathy is better because he already won from Penamaluru. But, he contested on behalf of YSRCP. He earlier contested from Vuyyur constituency, which was abolished later.

The YSRCP seems to have not impressed with the functioning of Parthasarathy and chosen Ramesh to contest from Penamaluru. The poll battle in Penamaluru will be between two backward class leaders. Parthasarathy hails from Yadava caste and Jogi Ramesh belongs to Gowda. Both Gowda and Yadava are two important castes in Krishna district and sizeable number of voters in at least six assembly segments of erstwhile Krishna district.