Changed political equations favour TDP in Nellore City

Nellore: TDP appears to be in advantageous position in the triangular fight in Nellore City constituency. While Pnguru Narayana is TDP candidate, Mohammed Khaleel Ahmed is YSRCP candidate and Mulam Ramesh is CPM nominee.

CPM fielded the candidate as part of INDIA bloc with the support of CPI and Congress. Though YSRCP and TDP are main rivals, CPM can also split votes from the two parties.

Observers say this will indirectly affect the winning chances of YSRCP nominee Khaleel Ahmed because most of them would be Muslim votes in Sundaraiah Nagar, Gurralamadugu Sangam, Mansur Nagar and Janda Street localities in the city where CPM has been active for many years.

Being a staunch supporters of CPM, the voters here naturally go for CPM candidate irrespective of winning chances. These sections would have voted for YSRCP’s Khaleel Ahmed if CPM is not in fray as he was a CPM leader in the past having held posts in DYFY and CPM town committee. He joined YSRCP in 2011.

After getting elected from division 46 twice in 2014 and 2019 on behalf of YSRCP, Mohammed Khaleel Ahmed is currently Deputy Mayor of Nellore Municipal Corporation.

Another major drawback for YSRCP is former Nellore city mayor Shaik Abdul Aziz is a senior leader of TDP now holding the post of Nellore Parliament president of the party. Being a Muslim who was mayor of the city, he can easily split 50 per cent Muslim votes out of total 53,000 in under the constituency limits.

The TDP has a strong voter base in Nellore City which was proved in the last elections when former minister P Narayana contested and lost to YSRCP nominee P Anil Kumar Yadav by a margin of just 2,988 votes. In the 2019 election, TDP candidate Narayana got 71,052 votes (46.13 per cent) while YSRCP candidate Anil Kumar Yadav secured 74,040 votes (47.38 per cent).

Alleged desertion by some party leaders in Balaji Nagar in the city was reported to have led to the defeat of Narayana in 2019.

Moreover, Anam family which has a strong hold in Nellore city had worked for YSRCP in the last elections, which resulted in TDP’s defeat.

But this time, in the changed political equations, Anam Ramanarayana Reddy supporters are likely to throw their lot behind TDP. Second-run leaders from YSRCP who switched loyalties are sincerely working for the victory of TDP in coordination with the party MP nominee Vemireddy Prabhakara Reddy, who is personally monitoring the situation. This is being considered a perfect recipe for P Narayana’s victory with a margin of around 30,000-35,000 votes in ensuing elections.