A three-cornered battle for Tenali

Tenali: There is a fierce contest in Tenali assembly constituency in Guntur district among YSRC, TDP and Jana Sena with all the three candidates belonging to the dominant Kamma community.
Alapati Rajendra Prasad (TDP), Annabathuni Sivakumar (YSRCP and Nadendla Manohar (Janasena)
The TDP candidate Alapati Rajendra Prasad had won in 2014, defeating YSRCP by 19,000 votes.He is confident of repeating the victory in 2019.
But YSRC’s Annabathuni Sivakumar is leaving no stone unturned to avenge himself upon his old rival. The entry of former assembly speaker Nadendla Manohar as Jana Sena candidate has made it a tough contest.
Tenali has a considerable Kapu population and could be the differentiator. Although the Kapu community had backed TDP’s Alapati Rajendra Prasad in the last election, Jana Sena candidate Manohar is expected to take away the majority of Kapu votes from the TDP fold. In addition to the Kapu support, Manohar is expected to cut into the SC and minority votes as he has strong following among these sections. While the YSRC candidate has set hopes on winning the support of Dalits and Muslims, Jana Sena can spoil the plans. “It could be a photo finish. It is not easy to assess the situation as all the three contenders are equally strong among different sections and capable of polarising the votes in their favour,” said a political analyst.