Archrivals locked in pitched battle for Sarvepalli segment

Nellore: The Sarvepalli constituency in Nellore district is all set to witness a pitched battle between agriculture minister Somireddy Chandramohan Reddy of the TD and his arch-rival and sitting member of the segment Kakani Govardhan Reddy (YSRC), in the ensuing elections.

Both the leaders have be-en using the election campaign for personal attacks against each other. In fact the current election is very crucial for Mr Chan-dramohan Reddy since he failed to win from the segment three times in succe-ssion since 2004. He lost to his rival Adala Prabhakar Reddy, who was in Cong-ress then, in 2004 and 2009 and to Mr Govardhan Reddy of YSRC in 2014.

In addition to this, he was also defeated in the byelection for Kovur seat in 2012 against his uncle's son and YSRC nominee Mr Nallapareddy Prasannakumar Reddy.

Meanwhile, he continu-ed to nurture the Sarvep-alli segment and he made his son as coordinator of the constituency, determined to win the seat this time. Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu’s move to induct him into the Cabinet after offering him the MLC post came like a blessing to Mr Chandra-mohan Reddy who could now take up long-pending issues in a big way in the constituency, especially in irrigation sector.

He has spent so much more time in Sarvepalli than in Amaravati that people have even started calling him as minister for the segment and not for the state. Banking on the development he initiated, he even put down his papers for his MLC post and entered the fray in Sarvepalli to test his luck for the fourth time.

In the case of YSRC no-minee Mr Govardhan Re-ddy, an engineering graduate, he ensured that he was amongst people and kept constant touch with the constituency being a legislator from the segme-nt. He has been exuding confidence regarding his victory.