TDP-JSP alliance poses a threat to YSRCP in Bhimavaram

Rajamahendravaram: Bhimavaram Assembly constituency in West Godavari district has a specialty, of being one of those rare constituencies, which is a confluence of temples, freedom fighters, entrepreneurs, film celebrities, scientists and spiritual leaders. It is also commercial, educational hub and Aqua capital.

Gunupudi Someswara temple, one of the Pancharams, and Mavullamma temple are the most famous religious places. Bheemavaram also reminds all of great freedom fighter Alluri Sitarama Raju. He was born in Mogallu near Bhimavaram.

Entrepreneurs BV Raju, Byrraju Ramalinga Raju, KVK Raju, cinema celebrities Krishnam Raju, Trivikram Srinivas, Sivaji Raja, Subba Raju, Sunil, Prabhas and Raja Ravindra, scientist Yallapragada Subbarao, spiritualist Swami Gynananda are some of the prominent persons from this region.

There are more number of food processing, aquaculture and rice mills here. Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) regional office is also located in this constituency.

The constituency has a total of 2,46,342 voters. Bhimavaram and Veeravasaram mandals as well as Bhimavaram town area are part of the constituency. Kshatriya community is the predominant community and wields lot of political power. Kapus also constitute a major community.

PV Narasimha Raju is the longest-served MLA. He had won as TDP candidate in 1983, 1985, 1994 and 1999.

Nachu Venkataramaiah won on Congress ticket in 1955 and 1962 while Bhupathiraju Vijaya Kumar Raju won in 1957 and 1972, once as independent candidate and again on Congress ticket. Grandhi Srinivas won from Congress in 2004 and from YSRCP in 2019.

In 2019 elections, this constituency attracted the attention of all in the State, as Jana Sena Party president Pawan Kalyan had contested from here. Pawan Kalyan, who got more than 62,000 votes, lost the election to YSRCP candidate Grandhi Srinivas, who won with 70,642 votes.

TDP candidate Pulaparthi Ramanjaneyulu got 54,000 votes even though he stood in third position. There was a tight competition between the three Kapu candidates. This is one of the constituencies where YSRCP won only because Telugu Desam and Jana Sena contested separately.

The major difference in 2004 election was the TDP and Jana Sena alliance. If their votes were not divided, Pawan would have won the polls. Speculations are rife that Pawan Kalyan may contest from Bhimavaram.

From YSRCP, Grandhi Srinivas candidature has been finalised. This time, the alliance of TDP and Jana Sena is causing fear among the ruling party camp, as TDP and JSP together had polled 1,16,000 votes against 70,000 votes of YSRCP when there was a wave in favour of YS Jagan Mohan Reddy in 2019.

Despite its glory, Bhimavaram constituency remains neglected as the leaders never showed interest to develop after they were elected and many of wealthy families were shifted to Hyderabad in the undivided AP and settled there.

The roads in Bhimavaram are narrow and traffic congestion is high as road widening works were never taken up. Drinking water scarcity is a normal issue during summer. Maintenance and expansion work of summer storage tank had not been taken up for long. Setting up of garbage dumping yards has also become a long-standing issue.