VIJAYAWADA: Telugu Desam (TD) has been concentrating on winning in Krishna and Guntur districts’ graduates constituency MLC election and has been directing party cadre to register graduates in the two districts as voters and to attract them towards TD. Similarly, Communists have also started a campaign to register graduates as voters in Krishna and Guntur district graduate MLC constituency. TD has been treating the graduate MLC election as a semi-final to know the public’s pulse and will further concentrate on attracting Secretariat employees towards the TD to win the MLC election which would be held in March 2019.
TD has been banking on the TD government’s welfare schemes, including unemployment assistance to youth to attract graduates towards TD in the MLC election.
In the year 2013, during Krishna and Guntur district graduate constituency election, Telugu Desam faced defeat as its candidate Chigurupati Varaprasad lost the election as Progressive Democratic Front (PDF) candidate Boddu Nageswara Rao won the election with 10,000 votes majority.
Earlier, TD won the graduates’ MLC in the year 2007 as its candidate Chigurupati Varaprasad won the seat with 24,000 votes majority. Four leaders of TD have been working arduously to get a TD ticket to contest in the graduates’ MLC. Former MLC Varaprasad, TD senior leader Gottipati Ramakrishna Prasad, former MLC Rayapati Srinivas and TD senior leader and AP Grandhalaya Samastha chairman Dasari Raza Master have been seeking TD tickets to contest in the graduates’ MLC.
In 2017, Raza Master lost the MLC ticket due to the selection of Varaprasad by the TD High Command. According to the reports, during the year 2013, in the graduates’ MLC election, the graduate voters were 2.19 lakhs in number and with the shifting of Secretariat to Velagapudi in Amaravati and government departments to Krishna and Guntur districts, the graduate voters would increase to nearly 2.50 lakhs this year. The TD leaders are hopeful about getting the support of Secretariat employees and officials which would help TD to win the graduate MLC election.
TD recently conducted a meeting in Vijayawada, discussed about the graduates’ MLC election and directed the TD cadre to work for the victory of the TD candidate. TD Krishna district president B. Arjunudu directed party cadre to take TD government welfare schemes, including unemployment assistance to graduates. Further, Minister for Water Resources Devineni Umamaheswara Rao and other leaders directed TD leaders to work for the registration of graduates in Krishna and Guntur districts as voters to get their support to TD candidate in the graduate MLC election.
Meanwhile, there were 25,000 votes to teachers in Krishna and Guntur district graduates’ MLC. Hence, the PDF started efforts to retain the seat. The Communist parties and its associated organisations have started the campaign about registration of graduates as voters and to get the support of YSR Congress and Jana Sena, if the duo parties are unwilling to field candidates in the graduates’ MLC election.
