Tirupati sheds Gudur and embraces Kodur, while Kadapa gets back Rajampeta

Tirupati district has taken Railway Kodur into its fold from erstwhile Annamayya district, while shedding a chunk of Gudur constituency, which has now merged with its parent district SPSR Nellore district.

The elaborate district reorganisation exercise has not only reshaped the eastern Rayalaseema districts, but also undone the anomalies left behind by the similar exercise taken up in 2022.

Though the idea was to carve out districts on the lines of the existing parliamentary constituencies, the process also took note of a mandal’s distance to the district headquarters. Gudur has always been considered an integral part of Nellore, in terms of distance as well as culture, and hence the government merged it back to SPSR Nellore district.

Meanwhile, the Venkatagiri constituency, originally part of SPSR Nellore, was made a part of Tirupati after 2022. Kaluvoya, Rapur and Saidapuram mandals in the constituency, which are geographically close to Nellore, were remerged to their parent district, citing administrative convenience.

While Tirupati district shed parts of two major constituencies, Railway Kodur constituency from Annamayya district has now been added to it. Being just 55 km away, Railway Kodur always enjoyed a cultural sync with Tirupati, when compared to Annamayya (after 2022) or Kadapa (before 2022). The residents took out a procession expressing joy over the merger with Tirupati district.

Similarly, the demerger of Rajampeta from Annamayya and its merger to the adjoining Kadapa district has been welcomed by the residents, who had staged demonstrations for the same.

With the merger of Rajampeta to Kadapa and Railway Kodur to Tirupati, the size of Annamayya district has reduced. The district headquarters has also been moved to Madanapalle, making Rayachoti just a revenue divisional headquarters.

As both Madanapalle and Rajampeta were traditionally large revenue divisions headed by Sub-Collectors since decades, the idea of choosing an allegedly under-developed and far-flung Rayachoti for the district headquarters in 2022 had come under sharp criticism. Residents of Madanapalle, meanwhile, feel that the anomaly now stands corrected.