Parties focus on Nellore for Tirupati LS bypoll victory

Nellore: With four of the assembly segments under the Tirupati Lok Sabha parliamentary constituency falling under Nellore district, all political parties are focussing extra attention on this district.

Having won a landslide victory in Panchayat and Municipal polls in the district, the YSRCP legislators are taking the Lok Sabha bypoll as a prestigious one. As a result this segment has become crucial for the by-elections. The bypolls were necessitated following the death of Balli Durga Prasad Rao who had won in 2019 with a majority of 2.28 lakh votes. Tirupati Parliamentary constituency is spread over Gudur, Sarvepalli, Venkatagiri, and Sullurpet assembly segments in Nellore district and Srikalahasti, Satyavedu, and Tirupati segments in Chittoor district. Sarvepalli, Gudur, and Satyavedu are SC reserved assembly segments.

Nellore is a strong bastion for the YSR Congress and in the 2019 general elections, the party had won all the four assembly segments in the district and three constituencies in Chittoor district.

Now, the party legislators have set a target of thumping majority of more than 3 lakh votes in the bypolls. Party candidate Dr M Gurumurthy, who has been the personal physiotherapist is considered to be close to Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy. Dr Murthy is from Yerpedu in Chittoor district.

In order to contain any dissension within the party, YSRCP in a strategic move promised MLC seat to the kin of Durga Prasad. Following this, Durga Prasad's son is seen actively working for the victory of the party candidate in the bypolls in the four constituencies of Venkatagiri, Sullurpet, Gudur, and Sarvepalli.

The TDP had fielded senior politician Panabaka Lakshmi who was defeated in the 2019 elections. The BJP however is the only party which is yet to announce its candidate. BJP is said to be considering fielding former Chief Secretary of Karnataka K Ratna Prabha. The 1981 batch IAS officer had retired from the service in March 2018. She hails from a Dalit family in Andhra Pradesh.