© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
Tags:
Journalism of Courage
The hitherto obscure Assembly seat of Pithapuram finds itself suddenly in the limelight. The reason: the entry of JanaSena Party (JSP) chief and superstar K Pawan Kalyan as the candidate from the constituency for the Andhra Pradesh Assembly elections to be held on May 13.
There is palpable excitement in the area to elect “Power Star”, as Kalyan is known among his fans, to the Assembly. Kalyan, who is up against sitting Kakinada MP Vanga Geetha of the YSRCP, has camped in the constituency over the past few weeks, and his residence as well as the party office are thronged by people. The YSRCP office lies relatively deserted, with barely a few local leaders present.
“He has entertained us for so long on the big screen and now we want him to govern us. Last time, he lost from two seats but this time, Pithapuram will elect him with a huge margin,” says Kalyani, 27, at Uppad Junction of Pithapuram town.
Uppad Junction is dominated by the Matsyakara (fishermen) OBC community, who are second only to the Kapus, who number around 70-75% in the constituency. The Kapus are firmly behind Kalyan, a fellow community member, but the Matsayakaras too see him as one who speaks extensively on their issues. “The Kapus will support Kalyan anyway but among the leaders of other parties, he is the only one who understands our problems and has promised to solve them. The community will firmly stand behind him,” Rama Raju, a Matsyakara community leader, says.
Last November’s harbour fire in Visakhapatnam is also another reason why the community is now firmly behind the JSP chief. “Did any other leader even enquire about those affected by the fire? He was the only one who visited the site and handed out cheques of Rs 50,000. Would it be right not to support someone who thinks about our welfare? The YSRCP government has a YSR Matsyakara Yojana but how long will it last? Someday (Chief Minister) Jagan (Mohan Reddy) will be voted out. What then?” Raju asks.
Barely a kilometre away from Uppad Junction is the YSRCP office where local leaders are speaking of Geetha’s recent meeting with members of the community. “It went very well, but we should not get complacent. Realistically, as of now, we can win, though by a majority of only 20,000 votes,” Anand Shekhar, YSRCP’s Pithapuram general secretary, says, talking to the party’s district minority cell general secretary Shyamal Rao, who nods in agreement but reminds Shekhar of “ronduvandhala kotlu (Rs 200 crore)”.
Rao’s reference is to Jagan’s March 2023 promise of allotting Rs 200 crore to tackle the problem of flooding in 10 villages of Gollaprolu mandal, barely 15 km away from the Pithapuram town and one of the three mandals falling under the Assembly segment.
While people are not ecstatic about Kalyan’s candidature in Gollaprolu, they are wary of Jagan’s unfulfilled promise. “Everyone makes promises in the run-up to the elections, but no one fulfills them,” Srilekha, a 34-year-old homemaker, says. On Kalyan, she says: “There is nothing great about an actor contesting elections in Andhra Pradesh. We have seen it right from NTR’s time. So, (Kalyan) is just another candidate for us. Moreover, he has contested and lost elections in the past.”
JSP leaders say this won’t stand in their candidate’s way, both due to the support of the two dominant communities, apart from Kalyan’s appeal as a film star.
A party leader, who did not wish to be named, claims people still remember what Jagan and his father (former CM Y S Rajasekhara Reddy) “did to Pithapuram”. “They encroached lands of the erstwhile Pithapuram ruler. Even today, the YSRCP office is in Rajavarikota, which belonged to the ruler. People voted for the YSRCP as they did not have an alternative good candidate last time. This time, with Power Star, it is the JSP all the way,” he says.
Another factor the JSP is banking on is Hindutva. Pithapuram is the birth place of Sri Pada Vallabha Swamy and a temple dedicated to him sees devotees from across the state. The JSP is fighting the elections in alliance with the BJP and TDP.
“We will win by a margin of over 1 lakh votes. Apart from the issues of the fishermen community, our leader has promised to promote temple tourism and industries in the constituency to generate employment. Is it not evident that there is large-scale unemployment? Just go and see the Police Station Centre,” says Ranga Babu, a member of the JSP Assembly constituency committee and former YSRCP district secretary, referring to the Police Station Centre junction in Pithapuram town where the police station is located, and where youth and college students gather in the evenings.
At a makeshift bus stop at the Police Station Centre are a group of five youths, two of whom have just met with an accident. “This is what happens when we do not have jobs. We end up loitering around and picking fights. This has to change. Welfare schemes are one thing but would a secure job not be more useful for us? The JSP’s ally (the Telugu Desam Party) has promised 20 lakh jobs in the state once the alliance is voted to power. We want that,” 23-year-old Rohit says, as his friend Sreenu intervenes to say: “Who is bigger than Power Star?”
