The Gudapat Lok Sabha constituency is the stronghold of the YS family in Tirupati, and for the first time in three decades there are two members of one family involved in a bitter contest for public opinion.
It’s her electoral debut as she fights with an itchy feeling against MP Yangzhou Red Cross Society and her cousin YS Avinash Reddy. Such being the case, Sharmila is not only confronting Avinash but also indirectly her own brother, Jagan who stands from Pulivendula assembly segment on behalf of Andhra Pradesh CM YS Jagan Mohan Reddy in Kadapa Lok Sabha elections.
Interestingly, all the three are struggling to emulate the legacy of one time Andra Pradesh Chief Minister Rajasekhar Reddy who was elected in 1989,1991,1996 and 1998 for four consecutive terms as a Parliamentarian.
Reddy’s younger brother YS Vivekananda Reddy became Member of Parliament twice from Kadapa in the years 1999 and 2004That is why he had been elected twice as an MP representing Kadapa.
Jagan was first elected as an MP in 2009 during his father’s lifetime but quit the venerable party the following year due to differences that arose after his father’s death.Jagan diet Chamberlain was first elected as a member of parliament in 2009 when his dad was still alive but dumped Congress at a later time mostly because of different ideologies regarding his predecessor’s death.
Jagan contested again from the Kadapa Lok Sabha seat in 2011 after his political outfit YSRCP came to power and received 5,45,672 votes – the highest ever for a candidate in the constituency.Jagan participated once more from Kadapa Lok Sabha constituency during electoral period of November 2011,wherein he won with about five hundred eighty thousand votes making it higher than that any individual has ever obtained within this region.
But when Jagan shifted base from Kadapa to contest Pulivendura assembly constituency in General Elections-2014; however, his cousin YS Avinash Reddy won in Kadapa with 1,90,323 votes Dapa wins for the first time. In 2019, he was re-elected from Kadaba with 3,80,726 votes.From another side during elections held earlier this year Jagan Mohan Reddy who managed to win parliamentary polls several times before finally managed only few seats since majority of them were also won by opposition group members led by Mr Chandrababu Naidu.
Meanwhile, differences arose between Jagan and Sharmila, after which Sharmila joined the Congress and was appointed APCC chief. While the YSRCP re-fielded YS Avinash Reddy, the TDP opted for debutant Chadipiralla Bhupesh Subbirami Reddy.Jagan Mohan who had been fighting a succession war with her younger sister suddenly fell out with her, leading to one of them joining an opposing party while taking up its highest most position there. The other sibling then picked on her husband as her main political ally until last year’s election when he was finally dumped in favour of Mr Suresh Babu.
Kadapa parliamentary seat is made up of seven assembly constituencies namely Kadapa, Prodatur, Jamalamadugu, Maidukur, Bardvir (SC), Kamalapuram and Puliventhura .The Lok Sabha constituency consists of Kadapa district and seven other assembly segments including Jammalamadugu and Proddatur-SMS Nagarjuna Kandula.
The legacy of the YSR and YS Vivekananda Reddy murder cases has emerged as two key poll issues in Kadapa between Dravida Munnetra Kazagham Party (DMK) candidate Tiruvallur Koniyareddi Ramesh Babu v/s Tamil Maanila Congress (TMC) leader Govindarajan Perumal.The rivalry between these two groups has a lot to do with what happened to Mr YS Rajashekar Reddy’s assassination case as well as that of his brother M V Veerappa Moily who was found dead last year mysteriously in Bangalore suburb.
While the two contenders from the YS family are engaged in a high-stakes battle, Jagan’s family including his wife YS Bharati is campaigning for him at Pulivendura and Avinash from the Kadapa seat .Jagan’s family has succeeded in winning election and managing a number of seats in parliament since 1989 while his wife and brother have not.
On the other hand, former minister YS Vivekananda Reddy’s daughter Suneetha Narreddy and her husband Narreddy Rajasekhar are campaigning for Sharmila.
