In Rajahmundry LS seat, BJP Andhra chief runs into Jagan’s ‘Navaratnalu’

The Lok Sabha seat, spread across East and West Godavari districts, has seven Assembly segments under it — Rajahmundry Urban, Rajahmundry Rural, Kovvur, Rajanagaram, Gopalapuram, Nidadavole and Anaparthy — and is currently represented by the YSRCP’s Margani Bharat, who has been fielded by the party from the Rajahmundry Urban segment in the simultaneous Assembly polls.

In the rural parts of the Lok Sabha constituency, the anti-YSRCP sentiment seems far weaker as people swear by the Jagan government’s nine welfare schemes, dubbed Navaratnalu (Nine Gems). Most of the YSRCP welfare schemes have women as beneficiaries.

The BJP’s election plank is development and “ridding the state of debts brought on by Jagan”. The party had drawn a blank in 2019, after having won two seats in 2014 in alliance with the TDP.

“We know development has taken a back seat here, but we want to vote for Jagan as his schemes take care of our survival needs. Our family members benefit from pensions, and Ammavodi (annual financial assistance to mothers of school-going children) and Rythu Bharosa (annual financial assistance for farmers) schemes,” says 54-year-old Ramakrishna from Kappalakunta village in Gopalapuram, on the sidelines of a roadshow by the BJP’s Purandeswari.

His wife, who does not give away her name, intervenes from the background and pledges support for the YSRCP. “My child is studying in a school — an English medium one at that — only due to Jagan. He has changed our lives and is working hard to ensure a better future for our children,” she says.

As the state BJP chief’s roadshow halts at a house in the adjacent village of Gummingunta, a crowd gathers to catch her glimpse. But murmurs about Jagan’s welfare schemes continue, even as Purandeswari’s supporters raise slogans.

The Rajahmundry Lok Sabha seat is dominated by Kapus and the BJP is also relying on its alliance with the JSP to consolidate the community’s votes in its favour. JSP leader Pawan Kalyan, an actor-politician, is a Kapu.

As TDP Gopalapuram MLA M Venkata Raju begins his address, a group of women engage in a conversation on why Purandeswari chose to contest from Rajahmundry instead of Visakhapatnam, which she had won in 2009. “I think it is only because of the caste factor,” one of them says, as another woman interrupts, “Vote Jagan ke veyyali, evaruochina enti (We have to vote for Jagan. How does it matter who contests)?”

YSRCP leaders admit that women and beneficiaries are the party’s most significant vote banks. “We may seem to be on the backfoot in urban areas, but women voters and beneficiaries in rural areas will be the gamechangers. Jagan’s welfare schemes will help us sail through,” Talari Mohan Rao, a close aide of Kovvur MLA Talari Venkat Rao, says.

Another party leader, B Raju, seems more confident and claims that Purandeswari’s entry has made Srinivas’s fight a cakewalk. “Srinivas has been around for years and has worked for the people here. Why would anyone want to vote for someone who does not belong to Rajahmundry? It is going to be a bigger win than 2019,” he says.

Meanwhile, out of the spotlight but in the fray is the Congress’s Rudra Raju, whose campaign revolves around the legal guarantee for MSP to farmers, a point which the party has referred to in its national manifesto.

A Congress leader close to Raju admits his campaign lacks the intensity of his rivals. “The Congress is not a big player in Andhra. But he (Raju) has been a former state chief, and will put up a tough fight,” he says.

Voters, however, do not seem to buy the argument. “The Congress is nowhere in the picture. The entry of the CM’s younger sister, Y S Sharmila Reddy, may improve its prospects in Kadapa, but apart from that, they will not do well anywhere else in the state. In Rajahmundry, they are out of the contest. Here, it’s a straight fight between Jagan and the ‘kutami (alliance)’,” 32-year-old Kavitha says.