Sujana Chowdary Vs Asif: Vijayawada West residents prioritise accessibility; public works for choosing MLA

Vijayawada: The Vijayawada West Assembly in NTR district is expected to witness a strong political contest between YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) MLA candidate Sheik Asif and former Rajya Sabha member and former Union minister Y Satyanarayana Chowdary aka Sujana Chowdary of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Sheik Asif

Sheik Asif is a former corporator and served as the AP Minorities Finance Corporation chairman. For the 2024 polls, he's relying on people recognising the welfare schemes and development activities taken by YS Jagan Mohan Reddy’s government in the constituency, in the areas of education, road connection, infrastructure development, and water provision for residents in hillock areas.

While Sujana Chowdary is carrying out his campaign promising policies of effective governance, transparency, accountability and accessibility through the BJP-led NDA government. Sujana Chowdary is contesting as an MLA from the TDP-Jana Sena-BJP alliance.

Incumbent moved to Vijayawada Central

In the 2019 elections, former endowments minister Vellampalli Srinivas was elected as an MLA from the constituency. He defeated TDP candidate Shabana Musarat Khatoon, daughter of former MLA and TDP leader Jaleel Khan.

As part of the party’s social engineering policy, CM Jagan is fielding Sheik Asif from Vijayawada West and the incumbent MLA Vellampalli Srinivasa Rao has been given a chance to contest from Vijayawada Central constituency.

Public talk on candidates and parties

While discussing the ensuing AP Assembly elections and the present race among the local candidates, Anguluri Kiran, who runs a grocery store at One Town, told NewsMeter that he is aware of BJP Sujana Chowdary’s reputation as an industrialist who has been accused of money laundering. “Even if Sujana Chowdary spent Rs 150 crores for his victory he will not win in Vijayawada West Constituency. If he wins, then people here would need to travel to New Delhi to explain their grievances as he will not be accessible to us,” Kiran said.

When asked about Sheik Asif, the YSRCP MLA candidate, Kiran replied that he knew Asif as a corporator and he had even served as the party’s Vijayawada West constituency in-charge.

“Whether he wins or loses, Asif is a dedicated leader who is a local candidate and approachable. Sujana Chowdary is not accessible to the general public and is not local. Twelve divisions of the constituency, out of a total of 22, are on hillocks. Sujana Chowdary was ignorant of the constituency’s demographics. Even if Sujana Chowdary uses his resources and influence to win the election, after becoming an MLA, how much would he spend to give back to the public?” he asked.

TDP won once in Vijayawada West

S Saritha, a homemaker, said that, since its inception in 1983, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) had won once in the Vijayawada West Assembly constituency.

“People are vexed with the YSRCP government. Apart from disturbing the welfare schemes, the YSRCP had utterly failed in the development aspect. The incumbent MLA Vellampalli Srinivasa Rao was involved in several scams. Several roads and drains in the constituency are in bad shape,” she said.

When asked about the winning chances of Sujana Chowdary as an MLA, Saritha said, “Be it local or non-local the candidate should have a commitment towards the people. I think the YSRCP leadership itself lacks commitment towards the people and how can we expect it from Sheikh Asif contesting as an MLA on behalf of the YSRCP? Sujana Chowdary played a vital role in sanctioning several infrastructure projects to Vijayawada while he was serving as Union minister.”

Drinking water and drainage are important poll points

M Sampath Kumar, a techie, believes that none of the candidates are focused on the long-pending problems plaguing the constituency for many years.

“The YSRCP was given a chance in the 2019 elections in the constituency. Drinking water supply and drainage system on the hillocks remained unsolved,” he said and added that apart from welfare distribution, the YSRCP government should also focus on infra development in the constituency.

Speaking about the present race of candidates, he said, “I expected Pothina Mahesh to contest as an MLA on behalf of the Jana Sena. Sujana Chowdary is offered an opportunity, nonetheless, as part of their partnership with the TDP-BJP. Vote transfer is simple from Sujana Chowdary’s pro-TDP stance. It will be interesting to observe if Jana Sena makes the vote transfer process simple. However, the voters from minorities will not prefer to vote for the BJP and obviously, Sheik Asif has more chances of becoming an MLA from the constituency following the welfare schemes launched by YS Jagan.”

Overview of Vijayawada West Assembly

Vijayawada West Assembly is one of the seven Assembly segments of the Vijayawada Lok Sabha constituency. The constituency was established in 1967, as per the Delimitation Orders.

It consists of Vijayawada Urban (Partial) and Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (Ward no: 1 to 13, 15 to 19, 75 and 76). Vellampalli Srinivasa Rao is the incumbent MLA of the constituency, having won the 2019 Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly election from the YSRCP.

Vellampalli defeated TDP candidate Shabana Musarat Khatoon by securing 38.04 per cent votes out of the total votes polled. Pothina Mahesh who was in Jana Sena then secured 14.56 per cent vote share. The Congress and the CPI triumphed thrice here, followed by the YSRCP twice, the Praja Rajyam and the TDP once.

As of 2019, there are a total of 2,32,555 electors in the constituency. Among them, the minorities have a large presence in the constituency, followed by BCs, Vysya and a sizable number of families of the Jain community. Marupilla Chitti, Pothina Chinna, MK Baig, K Subba Raju and Shaik Nasarvalli are the renowned leaders elected as MLAs from the constituency.