Guntur: Notwithstanding tall claims of political parties, the share of women among legislators has always been low. However, Guntur district has an exemplary record of sending women to assembly and local bodies.Woman have excelled in different roles from Zilla Parishad chairpersons to MLAs to MPs and ministers in the Union and state cabinets.Guntur is one of the few districts which has helped woman occupy top positions in local bodies even before the quota came through Act.Taking a cue from the success of woman leaders in the district, YSR Congress has now fielded woman candidates from three assembly seats. Senior leader Mekathoti Sucharitha - a two-time legislator, is testing her luck from Prathipadu. along with newcomers Vidadala Rajini (Chilakaluripet) and Dr Undavalli Sridevi (Tadikonda).In fact, it is a first for three women to get tickets from a mainstream political party in an election in the district.On the contrary, TDP, which had been backing women in politics, could not accommodate even a single woman from the district.Advocate-turned-politician Bhavanam Jayaprada was the first woman politician in the state - she was Vinukonda MLA from 1967-1978 and a minister in the PV Narasimha Rao cabinet.Her husband Bhavanam Venkatram Reddy was the chief minister of the combined state for six months in 1982.Doddapaneni Indira was a Tenali MLA in 1967 who went to win in 1972 and 1978. Indira’s father Alapati Venkatramaiah and daughter Gogineni Uma too represented Tenali in the assembly. Venkatramaiah, who was an MLA between 1955-67, was also a minister. Indira’s daughter Gogineni Uma was MLA in 1999.Guntur sent a minority woman to assembly in 1972 when Dr Fatimmunnisa won on a Congress ticket.She, however, disappeared from the political scene with TDP’s arrival.A BC woman leader E Seetharavamma, won three successive elections from Kuchinapudi (merged in Repalle during delimitation) and was a minister in Chandrababu Naidu cabinet. Sanakkayala Aruna, a doctor-turned-politician, also served as a medical and health minister in Naidu cabinet in 1999.Now it is to be seen whether lady luck smiles on women politicians in 2019.

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