Reddy community rules Markapuram constituency

Ongole: Whoever is the Chief Minister of the State, the voters in Markapuram Assembly constituency are about to continue the tradition of electing a Reddy MLA for the twelfth consecutive time.

The Markapuram Assembly constituency has existed since the 1952 elections. The constituency consists of Konakanamitla, Podili, Tarlupadu and Markapuram mandals. In the 2019 elections, 1,78,712 voters used their right to vote and elected Kunduru Nagarjuna Reddy of YSRCP against Kandula Narayana Reddy of the Telugu Desam Party. Nagarjuna Reddy received a total of 92,680 votes and a majority of 18,667 votes against Narayana Reddy.

The Markapuram constituency is dominated by Reddys, followed by Muslims, Vysyas, SCs and BCs. Of the 15 elections held, Reddys won 11 times as the MLA of the constituency. While the Congress party used to be the most preferred in Markapuram, the TDP influenced the voters only two times since its inception. After the YSR Congress Party was established, the locals supported its candidates and elected them as MLAs in 2014 and 2019.

Kunduru Nagarjuna Reddy, the present MLA of the Markapuram constituency, and his brother Krishna Mohan Reddy face many allegations like land grabbing, occupying government land, and corruption. Though Nagarjuna Reddy is expecting the ticket this time, the chances are meek.

The YSRCP district in-charge and former MLA Janke Venkata Reddy is also expecting the ticket and is said to have almost convinced of the party. Meanwhile, Peddireddy Suryaprakash Reddy, an expelled leader of YSRCP, is also trying to convince the top leadership of the party that he is the ideal candidate. He claims that his fight against the Nagarjuna Reddy brothers over land grabbing and the agitation in support of the Makapuram district would fetch more votes. Even if the YSRCP is not ready to offer the ticket to him, he is prepared to contest as a YSRCP rebel at Markapuram. The TDP in-charge of the constituency and former MLA Kandula Narayana Reddy is the official candidate of the party.

Markapuram was once famous for the slate industry. The industries used to export the slates to Singapore, Japan and other countries. Now, as the demand for slates has fallen, the number of industries has also reduced from over 300 to less than 10. The rain shadow area is mostly dependent on the borewells for agriculture and tankers for drinking water supply.

The people in the constituency have put their hopes on the Veligonda project, but it is taking ages to complete it. The locals are demanding the government to complete the Veligonda project and supply water through it soon.

They are also demanding the government for industries to generate employment, encouragement to the slates industry with training to use the black stone as decorative tiles, and support in marketing them.