The fortunes of the Jai Samaikhyandra Party, floated by former Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy suffered reverses in his native Assembly constituency, Piler, at a time when there was high speculation that the JSP would win the seat.
JSP candidate N. Kishore Kumar Reddy (younger brother of Mr. Kiran Kumar Reddy) was defeated by his YSR Congress counterpart Chintala Ramachandra Reddy by a margin of 15,137 votes. In all, the YSRC polled 71,416 votes, followed by the TDP with 33,618, and the JSP 56, 279.
The supporters of Kiran Kumar Reddy, who vociferously worked for the JSP, are tight-lipped over Mr. Kishore’s defeat, though some of them admit that the YSRC performed well in the constituency. They further maintain that YSRC strongman Peddireddi Ramachandra Reddy, who won as Punganur MLA, worked overtime in Piler, which falls under the Rajampeta LS seat, which in turn is bagged by his son and YSRC candidate, P. Mithun Reddy, by a margin of over 85,000 votes against BJP candidate Purandeswari.
Mr. Peddireddi vowed to defeat Kiran’s party, and threw a challenge that if the JSP wins even a single seat in the district, he would relinquish political life.
Kishore’s defeat is viewed as an end to the dominance of Kiran family’s three decades in Piler constituency.
The JSP cadres however observe that the TDP was polled good number of votes from the minority segment in Piler following assurance of the TDP chief N. Chandrababu Naidu that its candidate from minorities would be made the Minister if he was elected there. The triangular fight proved costly to the JSP here.
Earlier, it was widely expected that the JSP would split the votes in almost all the constituencies, but its votes in other constituencies remained below one thousand in the district.
change it to over 85,000 votes
