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Few Assembly constituency face-offs in Andhra Pradesh are going to attract as much public interest and media scrutiny this election season as the one that is brewing in Mangalagiri.
While Telugu Desam Party (TDP) national general secretary Nara Lokesh will be hoping to gain entry to the State Legislative Assembly by winning his first direct election, the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) will assuredly do everything it can to ensure that the TDP scion tastes humble pie for the second time in a row, after losing narrowly in 2019 by a margin of around 5,000 votes.
While Mr. Lokesh was a Minister from 2014 to 2019 when the TDP was in power, he was often derided by the YSRCP for gaining a backdoor entry into his father N. Chandrababu Naidu’s Cabinet by becoming a Member of the Legislative Council (MLC). A victory in the Assembly elections would significantly boost Mr. Lokesh’s credentials as a potential future leader of the TDP, a fact that the party is keenly aware of.
On the other hand, the importance that the ruling YSRCP has attached to this constituency can be gauged by the fact that it has decided not to renominate sitting MLA Alla Ramakrishna Reddy — who had achieved two consecutive wins for the party in 2014 and 2019 — and instead field a newcomer named Murugudu Lavanya.
Ms. Lavanya’s family has had a long connection to Mangalagiri constituency. Her mother, Kandru Kamala, was elected as MLA from Mangalagiri in 2009 on a Congress ticket. Her father-in-law M. Hanumantha Rao served as MLA of Mangalagiri from 1999 to 2004 on a Congress ticket, and is now a YSRCP leader, serving as an MLC.
A shot in the arm for the YSRCP is the support that it has received from prominent local leader Ganji Chiranjeevi, who lost by a wafer-thin margin of 12 votes in the 2014 Assembly elections. Mr. Chiranjeevi, who was forced to make way for Mr. Lokesh in 2019, quit the TDP in 2022 to join the YSRCP.
Strategic location
Mangalagiri is located at the crossroads of the Amaravati capital city region, which has been the subject of much controversy in the past five years.
Mr. Naidu, in his term as Chief Minister from 2014 to 2019, had proposed Amaravati as the capital city of the State. The proposal was accepted by both the opposition YSRCP in the State and the BJP government at the Centre, resulting in a slew of development initiatives being announced for the region. Many farmers, at the State government’s request, agreed to part with their fertile lands in return for developed plots in the capital city in Mangalagiri as well as Tadikonda Assembly constituencies. In total, 33,000 acres of land was taken in the Land Pooling Scheme (LPS) by the State government.
However, after formation of the YSRCP government, Mr. Jagan announced that Andhra Pradesh would have three capitals instead of one. Visakhapatnam would be made the executive capital of the State, Mr. Jagan had said, adding that the city already had all it needed to be turned into a capital unlike Amaravati, which was still mostly barren land. Kurnool would become the judicial capital by housing the High Court, while Amaravati would continue to remain a ‘legislative capital’ by housing the State Legislative Assembly.
Mangalagiri town has a sizable weaver community, which is still dependent on their traditional profession. Farmers in the region rue that their produce, such as turmeric, lemon and other commercial crops, are not getting enough markets and complain of rising input costs.
Infographics
Total voters in Mangalagiri Assembly Constituency
Male: 1,39,323
Female: 1,50,228
Third gender: 13
Total: 2,89,564
2019 General Elections
Polling percentage: 85.48
Result Party Candidate Votes
Winner YSRCP Alla Rama Krishna Reddy 1,08,464
Runner-up TDP Nara Lokesh 1,03,127
Margin 5,337 (2.34 percent of total votes)
Mangalagiri constituency comprises Tadepalli, Mangalagiri and Duggirala mandals
