A ‘guru-shishya’ face o for second time in Narsipatnam

Narsipatnam Assembly segment, which falls under Anakapalli Lok Sabha constituency in Anakapalli district, is unique in a way as the contest here is between a political guru and his disciple.

Chintakayala Ayyanna Patrudu, 66, of the TDP is contesting against his onetime disciple Petla Umashankar Ganesh, 50, of the YSRCP.

As a politician, Mr. Ganesh worked under Mr. Ayyanna Patrudu in the TDP till 2010. After quitting the party due to “unavoidable reasons”, he got a call from YSRCP president Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, and was given a ticket to contest the 2014 Assembly polls. He is the brother of popular Telugu ™lmmaker Puri Jagannath.

While Mr. Ayyanna Patrudu is contesting the Assembly elections for the tenth time, Mr. Ganesh is in the fray for the third time.

The two leaders faced o against each other for the ™rst time in the 2014 elections. Mr. Ayyanna Patrudu scraped by with a margin of only 2,338 votes. However, Mr. Ganesh emerged victorious against his opponent in the 2019 elections, winning 54.82% of the vote share compared to Mr. Patrudu’s 40.41%.

Both the candidates belong to the Velama community, prominently found in north-coastal Andhra Pradesh.Mr. Patrudu has vast political experience having worked with TDP founder N.T. Rama Rao and current party chief and former Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu. He is also a six-time Cabinet Minister, holding key portfolios over the years.

“Mr. Patrudu wanted to step back in this election and nominate his son Vijay instead. However, the party was insistent that Mr. Patrudu contest this election,” a senior TDP leader said. Political analysts said that Mr. Patrudu believes he loses elections once in every ten years. He was defeated in the 1989 and 1999 LS polls, and again in the 2009 and 2019 elections.