Visakhapatnam: Three sitting MLAs of TDP in Visakhapatnam district are aiming for a hat-trick of victories in the 2019 elections, which are slated to be held in the state on April 11.The sitting TDP MLA from Visakha East assembly constituency, Velagapudi Ramakrishna Babu, who won the last two elections in 2009 and 2014, is confident of repeating his feat this year. The reason for his confidence is that he has over the years managed to carve out an image of a mass leader for himself.Visakha East assembly constituency, which came to existence after the delimitation in 2009, is said to be dominated by the Yadavas.The total number of voters in the constituency is 2,56,776 with over 23,000 Yadava voters, followed by 21,000 Reddys and 13,000 fishermen and over 11,000 Kapus.Babu, who belongs to the Kamma community, has worked hard to keep away caste discrimination and struck up a personal relationship with his constituents.Moreover, the fact that Babu’s appeal is greater than caste affiliation is proved by the fact that his opponent in 2009 and 2014 elections was Vamsi Krishna Srinivas, who belongs to the Yadava community, and yet failed to defeat Babu.This time, however, the YSRC has fielded Akaramani Vijaya Nirmala to take on Babu in Visakha East.“The fight this time in Visakha East constituency will be between Velagapudu and Vijaya Nirmala, as the Jana Sena (JS) has fielded Kona Tata Rao, who is not well known. Although Vijaya Nirmala, like his predecessor, belongs to the Yadava community, Velagapudi is likely to win as he has emerged as a mass leader in spite of his alleged role in land grabbing activities,” said T Anil Kumar, a resident of MVP Colony.Meanwhile in Chodavaram assembly constituency, sitting TDP MLA KSN Raju also wants to repeat history. His all-time rival Karanam Dharmasri of YSRC had contested on a Congress and YSRC ticket in 2009 and 2014, respectively, and had lost to Raju on both occasions.Chodavaram has 2,01,626 voters and the constituency is said to be dominated by the Kapu community, followed by Velamas.Although Dharmasri belongs to the Kapu community, precedence shows that the fact has not helped him.However, G Gopikrishna, a resident of Chodavaram, pointed out that this time the fight for Raju is likely to be tougher as Dharmasri has decided to focus on the failure of the minister in addressing local issues and the lack of development in Chodavaram town.Another sitting MLA of TDP from Yelamanchili assembly constituency, Panchakarla Ramesh Babu, is also hoping to get lucky the third time. Ramesh Babu won the Pendurthi assembly segment in 2009 when he contested on the erstwhile Praja Rajyam Party (PRP) ticket. In the next round of elections in 2014, he won the Yelamanchili segment on a TDP ticket.The battle might be even more difficult for Ramesh Babu this time than his colleagues because he will be competing against UVR Raju, (Kanna Babu), who won the MLA seat in Yelamanchili segment twice earlier. This time he will be contesting for the seat on a YSRC ticket, said political analysts.

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