BRS’s strong cadre, x-factor in Choppadandi against experienced Congress, BJP candidates

Parliament: Karimnagar

District: Karimnagar

MLA: Ravi Shankar Sunke (Madiga|BRS)

MP: Bandi Sanjay Kumar

Reservation: SC

Total Voters:

Booths: 327

Urban Voters: 0%

Rural Voters: 100%

Male: 49.6%

Female: 50.4%

Caste & Religious Demography

Gen + OBC: 76.50%

SC: 22.60%

ST: 1%

Hindu: 96.50%

Muslim: 2.80%

Others : 0.70%

Candidates Profile

Sunke Ravishankar (BRS)

He was born on June 30, 1970 and holds a degree in Bachelor of Arts. He worked as a teacher and also runs a contract business. He was the president of private colleges in the erstwhile Karimnagar district. He started his political journey with the Praja Rajyam Party (PRP). He joined the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (now BRS) in 2014 and was the head of the party’s SC cell. He won from the Choppadandi constituency in 2018 and won the constituency with a majority of 42,000 plus votes. He is active in the constituency and visits panchayats and mandals on a daily basis to listen to public grievances.

Medipally Satyam (Congress)

He holds a Master of Arts and a Ph.D in political science from Osmania University. Satyam was an active political spokesperson in several Telugu news channels from the TDP. In 2017, after numerous speculations started doing the rounds that Revanth Reddy had been meeting Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi for several weeks, Satyam.decided to resign from the TDP along with Revanth Reddy and 38 others to join the Congress. He unsuccessfully contested against the BRS candidate in 2018 and is poised to contest against Ravishankar again.

Bodiga Shobha (BJP)

Shobha started her political journey in 1990 with the CPI(M). In 2001, she joined the TRS and served as a ZPTC member. In 2009, Shobha was made the incharge of Choppadandi and won from the constituency in 2014. After being denied a ticket in 2018, she joined the BJP.

Constituency details

Geography: This is a rural constituency, and part of Karimnagar Parliament. Gangadhara, Ramadugu, Choppadandi, Mallial, Kodimial and Boinpally mandals are part of the Parliamentary constituency.

Political history: After the 2008 delimitation, this seat was reserved for the SC community. When it was a general constituency, the Velama community played a crucial role in the TDP and were able to win the constituency four times. However with the emergence of the Telangana movement, Velama leaders joined the TRS because of which the TRS (now BRS) was able to win the constituency with more than 50 per cent of votes in the last two elections. Gouds, Munnuru Kapu and Yadavs are the dominant castes in the constituency.

Cultural / Historical / Religious Identifiers

• Kondagattu Hanuman Temple
• Sri Mallanna Swamy Temple
• Choppadandi Shiva Keshav temple
• Sri Ayyappa Swamy Temple

2014 election analysis

Once a TDP bastion, Choppadandi was won by the TRS candidate. The main reason for the TDP’s defeat was the pro-Telangana movement prevailing at that time. Also, the defection of sitting TDP MLA Suddala Devaiah to the Congress weakened the party. The TRS gave a ticket to constituency in-charge Bodige Shobha, who had worked hard in the constituency. She built a strong vote bank of the SCs which set up her win coupled with the pro-Telangana party perception. The TRS won with a margin of 37 per cent votes.

2018 election analysis

There was a lot of rebellion among Bodiga Shobha’s cadre because of which she was denied a ticket by the TRS. For this reason, Sunke Ravishankar was given a TRS ticket. Meanwhile Shobha was kept in the dark and Ravishankar’s nomination was not announced till the last day of nomination. She then contested from the BJP after joining the party at eleventh hour and lost. After contesting from the BJP, Bodiga Shobha lost her traditional Left-leaning votebank. The TRS was able to win this election because the BJP was contesting the election independently without alliance with the TDP. Until then, the BJP did not have a strong cadre in the constituency. The politically strong castes like Reddy and Velama worked in favour of the TRS.

Current Scenario

• Incumbent MLA Sunke Ravishankar regularly tours the constituency and manages mandal level leadership really well. He also encouraged and gave due recognition to the Telangana movement agitators.
• Due to Revanth Reddy's induction as the TPCC president, a chunk of second rung Reddy leaders favour the Congress in this constituency.
• Apart from Bodiga Shobha’s personal relations, BJP lacks strong leadership at the mandal level.

Key local Issues

• Condition of the road is very poor, due to heavy vehicular traffic.
• 4-lane roads and median lighting demand still pending
• Drainage system in City
• Sub-station demand not fulfilled
• Development of Kondagattu Hanuman Temple still ongoing