Ongole: Darsi, the costliest Assembly constituency in AP

Ongole : Though politics in the Darsi Assembly constituency proved to be a costly affair for the candidates for the last few terms, there are multiple probable contestants from one party, while there are almost none from the other party. One candidate just came into the picture from another party, expecting seat as part of the alliance, and win the hearts of the public with the charisma of their leader.

Darsi Assembly constituency has been there since 1955 elections and is dominated by the people from Reddy, Kamma, Kapu, BC and SC communities. In the 15 elections held for the MLA seat so far, people from the Reddy community were elected seven times.

Since the 1994 elections, Reddys were MLA three times, Kapus were MLA three times and Vysya was MLA one time at Darsi constituency. For more than two decades, the granite industrialists played a key role in local politics and dominated any other individual with their capacity for expenditure.

In 2004, Congress leader Buchepalli Subbareddy, husband of Prakasam ZP chairperson Buchepalli Venkayamma, won as MLA of Darsi, followed by their son Buchepalli Sivaprasad Reddy in 2009.

Sivaprasad Reddy, who contested on the YSRCP ticket in 2014, was defeated by the TDP candidate Sidda Raghavarao. As Sivaprasad Reddy did not contest in 2019 due to the ill-health of his father, YSRCP offered the ticket to Maddisetty Venugopal. In TDP, as Sidda Raghavarao was compelled to contest as MP candidate from Ongole, Kadiri Baburao, a close aide of Nandamuri Balakrishna, contested in 2019.

Of the total 1,95,348 valid votes polled in 2019, Venugopal won with 1,11,914 votes against Baburao receiving 72,857 votes with a majority of 39,057 votes.

After the 2019 elections, Sidda Raghavarao’s family switched loyalty to YSRCP, and Kadiri Baburao became unavailable to the local TDP cadres. So, the TDP appointed Pamidi Ramesh in-charge for a while, but he resigned from the responsibilities in a few months. A former MLA Narapusetty Paparao tried to guide the party workers, but he too fell silent.

As Buchepalli Venkayamma is the ZP chairperson, their family got the influence over the local YSRCP leaders, and the relations between the MLA and Buchepalli family went south.

Following the TDP and Jana Sena Party alliance, Garikapati Venkat, a person who is known to be close to Balakrishna and Nara Lokesh, joined Jana Sena Party and started to work at the ground level.

The Darsi Assembly constituency consists of Donakonda, Kurichedu, Mundlamuru, Talluru and Darsi mandals. Most of the people in these mandals are known for migrating to other states for work and are demanding the government for employment opportunities locally.

The Donakonda Mega Industrial Hub is a dream unfulfilled, while the International Driving School and other projects were neglected in the middle. The works of the Mogiligundla reservoir project, which could provide drinking and irrigation water to Tallur mandal, are still incomplete. The locals want the political parties to show concern for the needs of the people in the constituency along with choosing the best candidate for their constituency.

If the rumours are to be believed, the candidates contesting from any party should spend at least Rs 40 crore to contest and get their voice to the ground level through the leaders but require about Rs 60 crore to win as MLA.

In YSRCP, it is said that the high command denied ticket to Maddisetty Venugopal this time, but almost finalised the candidature of Buchepalli Sivaprasad Reddy. Meanwhile, Sidda Raghavarao is still trying to convince the party leaders that he or his son Sudheer are a better choice.

In TDP, no leader is ready to spend the amount even for party programmes, as they are almost convinced that the Darsi ticket will be given to the Jana Sena Party, as part of alliance. Garikapati Venkat is working to woo the locals yet facing a hard time in mobilising TDP workers behind him.