YSRC, TD Stepping Up Preparations For Nellore Civic Polls

Senior YSRC leaders led by former minister Kakani Govardhan Reddy have stepped up preparations for the forthcoming Nellore Municipal Corporation (NMC) elections. The opposition party is planning to field candidates across all 72 divisions. According to party sources, YSRC Nellore city in-charge and MLC Parvatha Reddy Chandrasekhar Reddy has been working on identifying candidates for all the 36 divisions falling under the city segment. With the party's organisational situation in Nellore Rural, which has the other 36 divisions, not so encouraging, Govardhan Reddy is learnt to have taken direct charge of the election preparations in this area. Sources said Govardhan Reddy is personally contacting YSRC sympathisers and former party leaders who have remained politically inactive and is encouraging them to enter the fray. The district leadership is reportedly exploring the possibility of bringing back former YSRC leaders to contest the civic polls. Recent reports reveal heightened preparations by both the YSRC and ruling Telugu Desam ahead of the civic polls. The Nellore corporation earlier had 54 divisions. Following delimitation, the number of divisions has gone up to 72, as per the Andhra Pradesh Gazette notification on September 15. Authorities have taken up the exercise for reserving divisions for women, SC, ST, and BC communities. AP government has approved a 33.33 per cent quota for BCs in urban local bodies. The reservation process in the Nellore city and rural areas is expected to be completed shortly.

NDA ruling alliance partner BJP is reportedly seeking a larger share of seats. While an initial proposal had been to allot two seats each in the city and rural segments, the BJP is reportedly seeking around 10 divisions in both segments. The share of seats to be contested by alliance partners TD, Jana Sena and BJP is expected to be finalised by the alliance coordination committee.

The election notification is expected to be issued shortly. YSRC's decision to put Govardhan Reddy in charge of the corporation campaign adds a special dimension to the contest, as Nellore city area is believed to be the political turf of Municipal Administration minister Ponguru Narayana while Nellore rural is believed to be the domain of sitting TD MLA Kotamreddy Sridhar Reddy.