Bajireddy Govardhan, Bhupathi Reddy main contenders in Nizamabad Rural; BJP hopes to gain from turmeric board announcement

Assembly Constituency : Nizamabad Rural

District: Nizamabad

MLA: Bajireddy Govardhan (Munnuru Kapu)

Total Voters: 2,41,051

Booths: 293

Urban Voters: 47%

Rural Voters: 53%

Male: 47%

Female: 53%

Caste & Religious Demography:

• Gen + OBC: 80.3%

• SC: 11.2%

• ST: 8.5%

• Hindu: 76.8%

• Muslim: 21.3%

• Others: 2%

Candidates:

Bajireddy Govardhan (BRS)

Bajireddy Govardhan was born on 08-12-1954 to Bajireddy Digambar in Desaipet village of Metpalli, Jagtial district. He completed his B.A. from Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Open University in 1992. He started his political journey as an independent. In 1973, he worked as police patel and he was elected unanimously as sarpanch of Chimanpally in 1981. In 1986, Govardhan was elected as Sirikonda mandal parishad president. In 1986, he became the Director of A.P. State Finance Corporation and contested as an independent candidate from the Armoor Assembly constituency in 1994 and secured 33,000 votes. Later, he worked as chairman of PACS. He worked as chairman of the Committee on Housing Board. He had a brief stint in the YSRCP before joining the BRS.

Rekulapally Bhupathi Reddy (Congress)

Bhupathi Reddy was born on February 12, 1964, in Jalalpur, Nizamabad rural to R Raja Reddy and Lakshmi. He did his MS in Orthopaedics from Osmania Medical College. He worked as an orthopaedic surgeon in Khalilvadi. He joined the TRS (now BRS) right from the formation of the party. He was the BRS Nizamabad district president and was in charge of the Dichpally Assembly constituency. In 2015, he was unanimously elected as an MLC under the local bodies quota. However, he quit the BRS and joined the Congress in 2018 and contested as a Congress candidate and lost. He lost his MLC post under the Defection Prohibition Act.

Dinesh Kulachari (BJP)

Once a close confidante of Bajireddy Govardhan, Dinesh Kulachari is contesting on a BJP ticket in the Nizamabad rural constituency. The BJP rural in-charge Dinesh was ZPTC member and former market committee chairperson when he was in the BRS. He quit the BRS and joined the BJP. He is contesting as an MLA for the first time. Dinesh hopes that the announcement of setting up a National Turmeric Board by the Prime Minister will help him garner rural votes.

Assembly constituency information:

Geography: The constituency became Nizamabad Rural after delimitation. Earlier, it was known as the Dichpalli constituency. The constituency consists of 108 villages, 74 girijana tandas and five mandals; Nizamabad Rural, Jakaranpally, Dichpally, Sirkonda, and Dharpalle. Nizamabad Rural and Dichpally are major mandals based on population.

Background: Aakula Lalita (Munnuru Kapu) of the Congress won in the 2008 by-elections. TDP senior leader and ex-minister Mandava Venkateshwar Rao (Kamma) won the constituency five times as an MLA, now he is in the BRS. Munnuru Kapu caste dominates this Assembly constituency.

MLA Profile:

Political background: In 1994, Bajireddy Govardhan contested as an independent candidate from the Armoor Assembly segment and lost to TDP candidate Aleti Annapurna, a Reddy by caste. In 1999, he contested on a Congress ticket and won as an MLA. In 2004, he shifted to Banswada and defeated Pocharam Srinivas Reddy who was a senior and two-time TDP MLA at that time. In 2009, he lost this seat against the TDP’s Pocharam Srinivas Reddy. In 2014, he defected to the BRS and migrated to Nizamabad Rural constituency, which is his native place. He also acted as the TSRTC chairman.

Profession: Agriculture.

Financial strength: Strong

Remarks: He has ground-level strength

Cultural

1) Dichpally Sri Sitharama Swamy Temple

2) Sirikonda Ramalayam

2014 Assembly analysis:

• Bajireddy Govardhan contested from the BRS and D Srinivas contested from the Congress and Anand Reddy contested for the BJP for the first time from this constituency.

• The BRS gave a ticket to Bajreddy Govardhan, a former Banswada MLA who had joined BRS from the YSRCP, promising an MLC seat for Rekulapalli Bhupathi Reddy

• After consecutive defeats in the Nizamabad Urban constituency, former PCC President Dharmapuri Srinivas migrated to this constituency and contested on the Congress ticket. Both D.Srinivas and Bajireddy Govardhan hail from the same dominant Munnuru Kapu community in this constituency. In this election, Munnuru Kapu votes were split between the BRS and the Congress due to these two leaders.

• The BRS won this seat in this election with Telangana sentiment. Second-level leaders of the Congress joined the BRS because of Bajireddy Govardhan.

• Govardhan is a native of Sirikonda mandal. It also gave an advantage to the BRS compared to the Congress.

• Govardhan is very strong at the grassroots level, while D Srinivas mostly participated in state-level politics, which helped the BRS win this constituency.

• BJP candidate Gaddam Anand Reddy consolidated Reddy votes and the TDP traditional votes of Kammas.

2018 Assembly analysis:

• In 2015, Congress senior leader D. Srinivas joined the BRS. However, Srinivas remained neutral in this election. BRS candidate Bajireddy Govardhan, being the only one from the strong Munnur Kapu caste, helped the BRS get many Munnuru Kapu votes.

• Due to the influence of the ‘Rythu Bandhu” scheme and the BRS’s promise to make trial hampets into gram panchayats, BCs and Lambadas, who depended on agriculture, voted in favor of the BRS. Incumbent MLA Bajireddy Govardhan, having strong relations in all mandals and caste groups, contributed to the victory of the BRS.

• Due to TDP senior leader Mandava Venkateshwar Rao, who retired from active politics, local Andhra settlers have extended support to the Congress-TDP Alliance. Kammas also aligned with the Congress.

• Rekulapally Bhupathi Reddy, who has been active since the inception of the BRS and aspired for the Nizamabad Rural ticket in 2014, has been nominated as an MLC after the 2014 elections. Before the 2018 elections, the BRS took disciplinary action against him based on internal bickering with the incumbent MLA Bajireddy Govardhan. Later, he defected to the Congress and contested as an MLA in this election. Being a famous doctor, he got a lot of votes. Reddies had an affinity with him.

• Although BJP candidate Gaddam Anand Reddy belongs to Reddy community, the Reddies supported the Congress due to lack of coordination with the cadre. In this election, the BJP also lost the TDP vote share to the Congress compared to 2014 election.

Current situation:

• The BJP is gaining strength in this constituency. Meanwhile, Dichpalli former ZPTC member Dinesh Kulachari and senior politician Gadde Bhoomanna, along with eight MPTC members and 10 village sarpanches, have joined the BJP.

• Dinesh is currently working as Rural Assembly charge for the BJP. D. Srinivas's faction has also joined the BJP.

• BRS's incumbent MLA Bajireddy Govardhan is facing anti-incumbency and he had plans to encourage his son Bajireddy Jagan as a future MLA candidate.

• The Congress is grooming Reddy leadership in the constituency

Key local issues:

1. Turmeric Board

2. Development of Tandas

3. Internal roads