Barring Rayachoti, all municipalities to have YSRC chairpersons in Kadapa district
Kadapa: With the municipal election campaign ending on Monday, authorities have completed all arrangements for the conduct of polling on Wednesday. Although, there are eight municipalities along with Kadapa Corporation in the district, elections are being held for seven municipalities as there is stay order on Rajampet municipality.
There will be no elections in 33 Pulivendula wards because of unanimous elections. In Rayachoti, YSR Congress candidates were unanimously elected in 31 of the 34 wards and in 13 of the 20 wards in Yerraguntla. In these three municipalities, the incumbent YSR Congress candidates will take charge as chairman candidates.
Except at Rayachoti, there will be YSRC Chairman in all other municipalities and Kadapa corporation.
Out of the total 41 wards in Proddatur, nine will be unanimously elected. In Badvel, 10 of 25 wards will be unanimously elected, while there will two unanimous elections from the 20 wards in Jammalamadugu.
Meanwhile, there will be elections in all 24 wards in Mydukur Municipality. For the 50 divisions in the Kadapa Municipal Corporation, incumbent YSRC candidates have already been unanimously elected in 23 divisions. The YSR Congress Party is just three divisions away from power in the corporation.
Kadapa Mayoral candidate Kottamaddi Suresh Babu, will continue as mayor for the second time. He is currently unanimously elected in the 4th Division. He first served as Chinnachowk Sarpanch after stepping into politics. He later served as chairman of Kadapa Zilla Parishad. His wife Jayashree had previously worked as a Kadapa corporator. He was elected Kadapa corporation corporator twice in-a-row. This time the mayoral post was allotted to BCs and he was decided by the ruling party as their candidate.
During the nominations last year, the Telugu Desam Party announced Rashida, who is contesting from 29 ward, as its mayoral candidate. Under the current circumstances, the chances of the Telugu Desam Party winning the mayoral post are difficult.
Harshavardhan Reddy, son of former minister M.V. Mysore Reddy, will take over as Yerraguntla Municipal chairman after being unanimously elected from the 16th Ward. The key leader in Yerraguntla is a close relative of Jammalamadugu MLA Dr Sudhir Reddy.
Vallepu Varaprasad will take over as chairman on behalf of the YSRC in Pulivendula. He was unanimously elected Councilor of the 16th Ward. Varaprasad joined Congress party in 1989 and later joined YSRC. He is very close to Y.S. Manohar Reddy.
Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy has decided to retain Varaprasad as chairman as the post has been reserved for BCs this time.
RV Ramesh Yadav, a businessman in Hyderabad has been proposed for the chairman post in Proddatur Municipality by MLA Rachamallu Shiva Prasad Reddy. He is contesting in the 11th ward, where he is facing Bharatiya Janata Party and independent candidates.
Even though Challa Rajagopal is contesting for the chairmanship on behalf of the YSRC, MLA Rachamallu is leaning towards Ramesh Yadav. Muktiar, who is contesting from the 12th ward as the Telugu Desam party chairman candidate, seems to be almost finalized.
The post of Rayachoti Municipal chairman has been decided by the YSR Congress but is yet to be formally announced. In last year’s municipal election nominations, it was decided to give it to Asif Ali Khan, a kin of late leader Afzal Ali Khan. But with the MLC post tied to Zakia Khanam of the same family, there is now ambiguity over the chairman candidate. Currently, along with Asif Alikhan, Dasaradha Rami Reddy, Madan Mohan Reddy, Payajur Rehman seem to be the contenders. One or two of them will be selected by Srikanth Reddy.
The competition in Mydukur municipality is very interesting. Here, TD is trying hard to win a majority of wards and take over the chairmanship. TDP has nominated Dhanapala Jagan as its chairman candidate. Although he was a follower of Mydukur MLA Raghuramireddy in the past, he left the YSR Congress and joined Telugu Desam due to differences with him. Two leaders of the YSR Congress, Machanur Chandra and BN Srinivasan, are vying for the chairmanship. Eventually, on the initiative of the MLA, an agreement was reached for Chandra to serve as chairman for the first three years and the remaining two years by Srinivas. Chandra and Jagan are contesting for the ninth ward councilor post. However, while Chandra is competing in the 20th ward, Jagan's wife Bharathi is giving him a tough competition.
While the post of chairman in Jammalamadugu municipality has been reserved for BC women, the YSRC has declared Velpula Sivamma, who is contesting for the 12th ward, as its candidate. Her husband Jammalamadugu is working as a supervisor in a government hospital. Though the Bharatiya Janata Party candidates are vying for 16 seats, the chairman candidate has not been selected yet. Former minister and BJP leader Adinarayana Reddy is trying to win a majority of seats.
Former MLA Vijayalakshmi is trying hard to ensure Telugu Desam win in Badvel. It is seeking support from independent candidates. However it has not yet been decided who will be the chairman candidate, although YSRC has named contractor Wakamalla Rajagopal Reddy for the post.
