The two biggest issues facing Andhra voters are kidney disease and migration

Since the party’s founding, the Ichchapuram Assembly segment has been one of the TDP’s strongholds. In eight of the nine elections that have been held, the yellow party has prevailed.

Wife of Piriya Sairaj, who was elected on a TDP platform in 2009 but joined the YSRC in 2013, Piriya Vijaya has been nominated by the governing YSRC, which has been experiencing significant dissidence in the area. However, Bendalam Ashok, the current MLA, has been renominated by the TDP and is hoping to win a hat-trick.

Vijaya was the previous Srikakulam ZP chairman and the winner of the Kaviti Mandal ZPTC.

The demographic makeup of the constituency, which includes the mandals of Ichchapuram, Kaviti, Kanchili, and Sompeta, is varied. Within the constituency, the Reddika, Yadava, and Fishermen groups have a dominating position. But the communities of Sri Shayana, Bentho Oriya, and Kalinga are also very important in determining the poll’s result.

The Uddanam area, which includes the Ichchapuram Assembly segment, has made national news in recent decades due to the rise in chronic kidney disease (CKD) and the Sompeta thermal power plant protests, which resulted in the deaths of three farmers in 2010 when police opened fire on them.

Actor-politician Pawan Kalyan’s 2018 protest in Ichchapuram asking that the then-TDP administration investigate the source of kidney illnesses in this area led to the discovery of Uddanam nephropathy. The former TDP administration set up dialysis facilities, RO water plants, medical testing facilities in 104 villages, and raised the social security income for renal sufferers to Rs 2,500.

YSRC’s Piriya Vijaya
Some estimates place the number of deaths from the unusual medical phenomena at 4,500, and the number of renal disease cases at up to 35,000 in seven mandals under the Uddanam area. The Uddanam region is one of three places in the world with a high incidence of chronic renal disease, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Following the formation of the government in 2019, the YSRC established a 200-bed super specialty hospital in Palasa, provided clean drinking water via the Uddanam water project, and raised the social security pension to Rs 10,000 for people with chronic kidney disease.

Nevertheless, the government has not been able to pinpoint the precise reason for the high incidence of renal illness. Additionally, local YSRC officials have not told the public about the government’s renal patient assistance programs.

Another problem that has tarnished Ichchapuram is migration. The absence of water supplies for crops is the cause of the migrations.

Ashok Bendalam, TDP
The Vamsadhara-Bahuda river connection project, which may provide water for seven mandals and has an estimated cost of `6,400 crore under the Accelerated Irrigation Benefits Programme (AIBP), was approved and the contracts were finalized by the previous administration, which was headed by TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu.

Nonetheless, the bids were canceled by the YSRC administration under the guise of confirmation. Farmers in this area were thus compelled to go to other States in quest of employment.

In addition, in the area where coconuts are grown on more than 40,000 acres, the government has not been able to set up a center for coconut research. A minimum of 1.5 lakh individuals who work as daily wage workers, farmers, and dealers rely on coconut production either directly or indirectly.

The farmers have been complained that their coconut crop is being harmed by a variety of illnesses. They have been asking for a research center in the area against this background. Although the research center and a coconut park were promised by the governing YSRC, nothing has happened to fulfill that pledge.

In the meanwhile, the serious dissidence within the YSRC has allowed the TDP to develop a foothold in the area. The three leading members of the YSRC in the area, Narthu Rama Rao, Syam Prasad Reddy, and Piriya Sairaj, are from three distinct major communities: the Reddika, Yadava, and Kalinga.

In an attempt to quell dissidence, the YSRC’s high brass has nominated Syam Prasad Reddy as head of the Society for Employment Generation and Enterprises Development Corporation, Narthu Rama Rao as MLC, and Piriya Vijaya as MLA.

Piriya Vijaya told TNIE, “There has been no development in Ichchapuram in the five decades of TDP rule,” highlighting the YSRC’s endeavors in the area. We have been giving kidney sufferers a social security pension of around $10,000. At Palasa, we have established a super specialty hospital with 200 beds, investing ~200 crore. In order to provide clean drinking water to at least 300 villages where kidney disorders are common, we have also started the ~700 crore Uddanam water project. Our attention has been directed on the development of a coconut park and irrigation projects.

With an air of confidence that she would win the seat, she said that party leaders were doing well.

But Dr Pradhana Sivaji, the chairperson of the Vamsadhara Jala Sadhana Committee, pleaded otherwise. “The ruling YSRC has taken temporary measures for kidney patients, but it has not been able to determine the precise cause of kidney diseases,” he said. Due to a shortage of water resources for agriculture, the residents of Uddanam are obliged to relocate to neighboring States. In the interest of ratification, the government has shelved the Vamsadhara-Bahuda river connectivity project. Numerous crop diseases and a lack of favorable pricing for their goods have been causing challenges for coconut growers.