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TDP banks on sympathy to win Gudivada

Syed Amin Jafri in Hyderabad

The ruling Telugu Desam Party is making a serious bid to retain the Gudivada seat in the assembly bye-polls scheduled on February 17.

The party hopes to cash in on the "sympathy" for the party nominee Raavi Venkateswara Rao who is engaged in a four-cornered contest with a Congress rival and two independents.

Chief Minister and TDP president Nara Chandrababu Naidu, who undertook a day's campaigning in the constituency and addressed election meetings at Gudivada and Pamarru at the weekend, said that he had come to the town under unusual circumstances.

Chandrababu Naidu recalled the tragic death of Raavi Harigopal, who was elected to the assembly in the polls held in September last year, in a road accident even before taking the oath as an member of the legislative assembly in October. Raavi Harigopal was fielded after his father and former MLA Raavi Sobhanadri Chowdary, who represented the Gudivada seat for two terms (1985 and 1994), decided to retire from active politics.

The family suffered another tragedy when Harigopal's younger brother Raavi Sivaramakrishna, who was being considered for the TDP ticket for the bye-poll, died in January this year when his car was hit by a train at a level crossing. Raavi Venkateswara Rao, the only surviving son of Raavi Sobhanadri Chowdary, has been fielded for the bye-polls scheduled on February 17.

Chandrababu Naidu also sought to evoke the sentiments of the people of the constituency, saying that Gudivada was the home town of TDP founder and Telugu matinee idol N T Rama Rao. Incidentally, NTR was elected from this constituency in 1983 and 1985 elections. He quit the seat after the 1985 polls and fielded Raavi Sobhanadri Chowdary in the bye-polls.

"Please vote for the TDP for realising the goals of NTR. You have abundant respect for your beloved NTR. Please vote for the TDP and help me make Andhra Pradesh a swarna Andhra Pradesh," the chief minister pleaded with the voters. He recounted the schemes taken up by his government for the development of Gudivada town. A stadium has been built in memory of NTR. He said that Gudivada already has Internet facility and the villages, too, would get Internet facility soon.

The chief minister claimed that owing to the assembly bye-election and the civic body polls, the government could not take up distribution of 3,359 cooking gas connections to the poor women in the town under the Deepam scheme. However, the connections would be released to the eligible families soon after the polls, he assured.

The faction-ridden Congress has fielded Ramesh Sistla, a real estate developer, as its candidate for the Gudivada assembly bye-poll. Though two independents -- Yarra Venkata Subba Rao and Sunkara Sri Venkata Ramani -- are also in the poll fray, the contest will be mainly between the TDP and Congress. The BJP has not fielded any candidate.

The TDP has the tacit support of the saffron ally. An electorate of 162,463 is eligible for exercising franchise in the bye-polls.

The Congress nominee is a compromise candidate of the rival factions led by K S Rao, former MP, and Katari Eswara Kumar, former minister and ex-MLA. While K S Rao campaigned for Ramesh Sistla in the rural areas of the constituency, Eswara Kumar canvassed for him in Gudivada town.

In the 1999 elections, Raavi Harigopal was elected defeating his nearest Congress rival Segu Venkateswarlu by a margin of 16,946 votes. While Katari Eswara Kumar contested as an independent and polled 18,936 votes, NTR's son and Anna Telugu Desam Party president Nandamuri Harikrishna forfeited his security deposit as he managed to poll only 11,238 votes. There were 11 independents in the fray.

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