Visakhapatnam: Novice, Piria Vijaya, will be facing TD’s sitting MLA Bendala Ashok, who is trying for a hattrick win in Ichapuram assembly constituency in Srikakulam. Ashok defeated Vijaya’s husband Piria Sairaj in the 2019 elections.
This border town assembly segment has been one of the bastions of TD all along. It won this segment eight of the nine times.
The ruling YSRC, facing dissidence in the region, has nominated Piriya Vijaya, wife of Piriya Sairaj, who won the seat in 2009 on a TD ticket, but who joined YSRC in 2013.
The constituency, which comprises Ichchapuram, Kaviti, Kanchili and Sompeta mandals, has a diverse demographic composition. The Reddika, Yadava and fishermen communities are dominant in the region. Kalinga, Bentho Oriya and Sri Shayana communities also play a crucial role in polls.
Ichchapuram, one of the most backward segments, is a part of the Uddanam region affected by chronic kidney disease. The segment also shot into fame when three farmers were killed in police firing during an agitation against the thermal power plant in Sompeta.
Reports said around 4,500 people have died of kidney diseases during the last two decades and as many as 35,000 people have been affected by the ailment. The WHO has identified Uddanam region as one of the three areas in the world with high prevalence of chronic kidney disease.
Vijaya is banking on a government step to increase social security pension to the kidney patients from `2,500 to `10,000, a kidney research hospital and a drinking water project that was commissioned by the government, spending `700 crore.
Ashok claims that it was Chandrababu Naidu who had, in his previous tenure as CM, sanctioned the Vamsadhara-Bahuda river link coconut orchards in Uddanam region. The project was not carried forward by the YSRC government, he notes.
“The YSRC government also failed to establish a coconut research centre in the region even as coconuts are cultivated in more than 40,000 acres, providing livelihood to 1.5 lakh farmers, daily wage labourers and traders,’’ Ashok said.
He said, as a result, farmers in this region were being forced to migrate to other states in search of livelihood.
Sources said the YSRC leadership also solved dissidence in the constituency where three top leaders sought ticket this time. They include former MLA Piriya Sairaj, Narthu Rama Rao and Syam Prasad Reddy.
Jagan Reddy nominated Narthu Rama Rao as MLC, Syam Prasad Reddy as chairman of the Society for Employment Generation and Enterprises Development Corporation and Piriya Vijaya as the MLA candidate.
