Diwakar Rao, Prem Sagar Rao set to fight it out in Mancherial, BJP relegated to third place

Assembly Constituency: Mancherial

District: Mancherial

MLA: Nadipelli Diwakar Rao (BRS,Velama)

Reservation: General

Total Voters: 2,50,458

Booths: 287

Urban Voters: 59%

Rural Voters: 41%

Male: 51%

Female: 49%

Caste & Religious Demography:

• Gen + OBC: 77.1%

• SC: 19%

• ST: 3.9%

• Hindu: 91.2%

• Muslim: 6.9%

• Others: 1.9%

Candidates

Nadipelli Diwakar Rao (BRS)

Diwakar Rao was born in 1953 in Adilabad. He completed his Graduate (B.A) degree from the Govt. Degree College, Mancherial in 1978. He was an agriculturist before joining politics. He started his political career as a ward member in Mancherial municipality.

Kokkirala Prem Sagar Rao (Congress)

Prem Sagar Rao was born in the year 1960 in Dharmaraopet. His father Kokkirala Raghupathi Rao, was a senior Congress leader. A businessperson by profession, Prem Sagar Rao started his political career as a labour union president in 1985. He was Kasipet mandal MPP from 2004 to 2009, he was also the Congress party block president and member of PCC from 1999 to 2002. He was PCC secretary (2002-2005), TTD board member, Adilabad DCCB chairperson, MLC in the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh Legislative Council and member of AICC till now.

Verabelli Raghunath (BJP)

The 46-year-old postgraduate with an RSS background is the BJP district president. In the 2018 elections, he polled 5,018 votes. His nearest rival was Prem Sagar Rao of the Congress. Mulkala Malla Reddy was the BJP candidate in the 2014 elections. Muklala garnered more votes than Raghunath. However, Raghunath is active in door-to-door campaigning.

Assembly information:

Geography: Mancherial Assembly is spread over Mancherial town, Dandepally, Naspur, Hajipur and Luxettipet mandals. Mancherial Assembly was formed in 2009. Earlier it was a part of Luxettipet.

Background: Mancherial is a general constituency. Mancheial Town, Naspur and Hajpur are strongholds of the TRS (now BRS). All four elections since 2009 were won by the BRS. This constituency is famous for political and social movements. The Singareni collieries colonies were also part of this assembly segment. Demographically munnur kapu community is the dominant caste in this segment, however, politically velama and reddy communities have been dominant for a long time.

MLA Profile:

Personal information: Nadipelli Diwakar Rao was born to Laxman Rao and Rajakumari. He is married to K. Padma and has two sons. He is a strong advocate of the Telangana movement and has been actively involved in the struggle for the formation of the Telangana state.

Political Background: He started his political journey with the Congress. He was elected as a ward member of Mancherial municipality in 1981. He then served as the president of the Mancherial Block Congress for ten years from 1989 to 1999.

In 1999 and 2004, he was elected as MLA of Luxettipet assembly constituency from the Congress Party. He lost the election to the BRS and TDP alliance candidate in 2009 from Mancherial. He later joined the BRS in 2011. The BRS fielded him in 2014 and again in the 2018 Assembly elections and he was victorious both times.

Financial Strength: Strong

Remarks: Being an MLA for a long time, an anti-incumbency sentiment crept in. People blame him for his inability to tackle the drinking water issue.

2014 Assembly Election Analysis:

• Strong cadre and ground network along with the Telangana wave helped the BRS to win this assembly with a huge majority.

• All communities voted for the BRS candidate

• Congress could secure its core vote bank of SCs and Muslims in this constituency

• The BJP and TDP alliance candidate fielded by the BJP secured 7.5% of the vote share mostly contributed by the TDP voters from the urban centre of Mancherial town

2018 Assembly Election Analysis:

• Although there was a huge anti-incumbency against sitting MLA and TRS candidate Diwakar Rao due to various political dynamics during the last leg of the campaign, he won the election by a narrow margin.

• Congress party’s 2014 Assembly election candidate Aravind Reddy and Prem Sagar Rao fought for the Congress ticket. The Congress preferred Prem Sagar Rao, a senior leader.

• Aravind Reddy, shifted his loyalties in the last minute to the BRS. He has a considerable hold in Dandeppalli mandal.

• Prem Sagar Rao was able to split the votes of munnuru kapus and perikas. He has a financial clout too.

Current Situation:

•  Congress candidate Kokkirala Prem Sagar Rao is active in the party activities.
• He distributed sarees to women in the constituency
• However Aravind Reddy is said to have plans to migrate to the BRS as Nadipalli Diwakar Rao is aging.
• During the 2018 elections, KCR assured MLC ticket to Gaddam Aravind Reddy

Key Local Issues:

1. Drinking water

2. Lift irrigation project

3. Expansion of roads in Mancherial town