Sridhar Babu, Putta Madhukar locked in tight fight in Manthani, Kaleshwaram backwaters to impact outcome

Assembly Constituency :Manthani

District: Peddapalli

MLA: Duddilla Sridhar Babu (Brahmin)

Total Voters: 2,24,902

Booths: 286

Urban Voters: 7%

Rural Voters: 93%

Male: 50%

Female: 50%

Caste & Religious Demography:

• Gen + BC: 69.2%

• SC: 22.2%

• ST: 8.6%

• Hindu: 95.5%

• Muslim: 3.6%

• Others: 1%

Candidates

Putta Madhukar (BRS)

Putta Madhukar was born on April 1, 1972, to Rajalingam and Lingamma in Manthani, Karimnagar district. He was elected as Member of Telangana's first Legislative Assembly (2014-18) from Manthani constituency on a BRS ticket. He was the ZPP Chairperson from Peddapalli in 2018. In 2018, he lost to Duddilla Sridhar Babu of the Congress. He polled 72,815 votes, whereas the winner Sridhar Babu polled 89,045 votes.

Duddilla Sridhar Babu (Congress)

Sridhar Babu was born on May 5,1969, to D Sripada Rao and Jaya Sri. His father, Sripad Rao was a former speaker of undivided Andhra Pradesh. Sridhar Babu is a lawyer by education. He is married to Shailaja Ramaiyer, an officer in the Indian Administrative Service of the Telangana cadre.

Sridhar Babu entered into active politics after the tragic death of his father in 1999. At that time he decided that it was incumbent on him to continue the work of his father in Manthani constituency. From 2004-2006, he worked as the Board Member of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD). From 2004-2012, he served as the President of the District Congress Committee, Karimnagar.

He was the Government Whip in the 12th Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly. From 2009-2014, he served as the Member of the Legislative Assembly of Manthani Constituency, Karimnagar district. From 2009-2010, he worked as Minister for Higher Education and NRI Affairs, Government of Andhra Pradesh. From 2010-2014, he was Minister for Civil Supplies, Food & Consumer Affairs, Legal Metrology & Legislative Affairs, Government of Andhra Pradesh. From 2014-2016 he acted as the chairman of the Cricket Association of Telangana.

In 2014, He worked as chairperson of the manifesto committee, Telangana Pradesh Election Committee. He contested as an MLA in 2014 and was unsuccessful. In 2016, he was vice president of the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC). In the 2018 Assembly elections, he was elected from the same Assembly constituency. Sridhar Babu is the current manifesto committee chairman of the TPCC. He is accessible to people and actively engages on the ground.

Chandrupatla Sunil Reddy (BJP)

He earned an MS degree from the University of Delaware, USA, and worked as a product engineer. In 2014, he contested as an independent and lost. He joined the BJP in 2017 and became the party's State executive committee member. A people person, Sunil Reddy is onto his door-to-door to campaign in the constituency.

Assembly constituency information:

Geography: Manthani Assembly constituency is spread over Manthani, Kamanpur, Kataram, Mahadevpur, Mutharam, Ramagiri, and Palimela mandals.

Background: The Manthani Assembly has been a traditional stronghold of the Congress since 1957. Hoerver the TDP won in the 1994 Assembly elections the TDP won. This seat was represented by former Prime Minister of India and Former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, P V Narasimha Rao. He won this seat four times. Most of the elections were won by candidates from the Brahmin community.

Current sitting MLA D Sridhar Babu, represented this seat four times (1999, 2004, 2009 and 2018) while his father Sripada Rao represented this constituency three times (1983, 1985 and 1989)

Cultural / Historical / Religious Identifiers

Kaleshwaram and Muktheeswara Temple

2014 Election analysis:

• In 2014, the TRS (now BRS) candidate won against the sitting MLA and Minister D Sridhar Babu. The election was won in the wave of the Telangana movement. The Youth and divided Munnur Kapu communities voted for the BRS.

• Congress candidate Sridhar Babu got a decent vote of 64,000 votes consisting of Mala, Madiga, Reddy, and Munur Kapu votes.

2018 Election analysis

• In 2018, Congress candidate D Sridhar Babu regained his seat from the BRS. He won the election by a margin of 16,320 with his personal image. He got votes from Munnur Kapu, youth, Mala, Magida and Reddy votes

• The BRS got votes mainly from OBC communities including Gouda, Yadava and Mudiraj etc.

Current situation:

• Due to D Sridhar Babu's presence and his active engagement on the ground, he is still a favourite candidate in this Assembly election too..

• The BJP lacks candidates and leadership in this Assembly

• The BRS candidate is trying to catch up with the Congress in the campaign

• The BRS candidate is hoping for a turnaround after major public meetings to be addressed by the BRS senior leadership

Key local issues:

1. Medigadda Project,

2. Compensation for oustees of open cast villages

3. Temple Development

4. Basic amnesties for tourists

5. Manthani ORR