The election battle in the Chittoor and Annamayya districts is set to be a high-voltage affair with three seasoned political leaders, including former Chief Ministers N. Chandrababu Naidu, N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, and YSRCP strongman from Rayalaseema, Minister Peddireddi Ramachandra Reddy, entering the fray once again.
Earlier, it appeared as though the Peddireddis had the upper hand with Mr. Ramachandra Reddy contesting from the Punganur Assembly constituency and his son and sitting MP, P. Venkata Mithun Reddy, contesting from the Rajampeta Lok Sabha constituency.
However, with the TDP-BJP-JSP alliance announcing their support for Mr. Kiran Kumar Reddy as the BJP’s Lok Sabha candidate for Rajampeta, the path to victory does not seem to be a cakewalk for Mr. Mithun Reddy.
Over four-decades-old rivalry
Meanwhile, the alliance parties seem to put in all their efforts to put up a tough fight with Mr. Ramachandra Reddy for the Punganur Assembly seat as well.
The rivalry between Mr. Ramachandra Reddy and Mr. Naidu dates back to their student days at Sri Venkateswara University in Tirupati. While Mr. Naidu became the Congress MLA from Chandragiri in 1978, Mr. Ramachandra Reddy was limited to Chittoor district by remaining with the Congress party and continued to serve as the District Congress Committee (DCC) president for about one and a half decades. He even organised a mammoth public meeting in Tirupati during Sonia Gandhi’s visit in 1998 and went on to became the Minister for Forests in the Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy government in 2009.
Between 2019 and 2024, Mr. Ramachandra Reddy served as the Minister with powerful portfolios including Forests, Mines, and Panchayat Raj, and held sway over the YSRCP cadres in the undivided Chittoor district.
In these five years, he also led the YSRCP to stupendous victories in Mr. Naidu’s bastion of Kuppam. The TDP faced a humiliating defeat in the ZPTC and MPTC elections in all four mandals of the Kuppam constituency, including Gudupalle, Kuppam, Ramakuppam, and Shantipuram. The YSRCP also wrested the Kuppam municipality during this period. For three years, Mr. Reddy made regular visits to Kuppam and stated that Mr. Naidu would be defeated in Kuppam in the 2024 elections.
However, Mr. Naidu, who is contesting from Kuppam for the eighth consecutive time, has set the target of winning the seat by a “one lakh votes majority”. His opponent is MLC and YSRCP Chittoor district president K.J.R. Bharath, considered the “blue-eyed boy” of Mr. Ramachandra Reddy and Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy.
Mr. Bharat is said to have been promised a seat in the cabinet if he wins the Kuppam MLA seat in 2024. The YSRCP believes that Mr. Bharath, belonging to the dominant ‘Agnikula Kshatriya’ community in Kuppam, would gain a vast advantage, which would only prove Mr. Naidu’s “one lakh vote” majority dream a “mirage.”
Last-minute surprise
Meanwhile, the sudden entry of Mr. Kiran Kumar Reddy into the poll fray after a political hiatus of a decade for the Rajampeta Lok Sabha seat is said to have made Mr. Ramachandra Reddy uncomfortable. The opposition parties are said to be viewing Mr. Kiran Kumar Reddy’s candidature as a strong one as he belonged to the Reddy community, the dominant community in Rajampet. He is considered the “right candidate” to face the might of the Peddireddis in the Chittoor and Annamayya districts by the alliance parties.
Mr. Kiran Kumar Reddy’s father, Nallari Amarnath Reddy, served as the MLA four times from the erstwhile Vayalpadu and Piler Assembly constituencies before leaving the legacy for his son. The political rivalry between the Nallaris and Peddireddis dates back to three decades.
In contrast to other districts, the Nallari family has been largely successful in uniting the TDP, BJP, and JSP cadres in the Rajampeta LS constituency. With a track record of bringing unprecedented development to the Piler Assembly constituency, Mr. Kiran Kumar Reddy is poised to become a Central Minister if he wins.
This last-minute entry seems to have mounted pressure on Mr. Ramachandra Reddy, who now has little or no time to bring in reinforcements
With the sudden change in the political dynamics, the voters of Chittoor and Annamayya districts poised to witness epic election battles between the Peddireddis and the Nara-Nallari duo.
