In one of the biggest upsets in Telangana Assembly elections, BJP candidate from Kamareddy Katipally Venkataramana Reddy defeated BRS President and Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao and the TPCC chief A. Revanth Reddy, who is now a serious contender for the top post.
The BJP leader is real giant killer of the Assembly elections in Telangaana, having made his political debut with such a stunning victory over two towering political personalities.
Also read: Telangana Assembly Election Results 2023, LIVE Updates
The BJP candidate won by a margin of 6741.
The winning BJP candidate secured 66,652 votes, the Chief Minister next with 59,911 votes, while the TPCC chief got 54,916 votes. The total polled votes were 1,90,239.
Mr. Venkataramana Reddy’s win reminds one of the giant-killing act of Congress leader J. Chittaranjan Das, who defeated former TDP Chief Minister N. T. Rama Rao in 1989 elections from Kalwakurthy constituency in then Mahabubnagar district.
The Chief Minister came second, while Mr. Revanth Reddy, after leading in the initial rounds, conceded ground towards the fag end of the counting.
At the beginning of the election campaign it appeared like David taking on the Goliaths of the politics. But, the result has proved that he is the Bahubali of the electoral battle.
A fighter to the core, Venkataramana Reddy in his two decade long political career has been with the BRS (earlier TRS) as its ZP chairman of Nizamabad. Differing with the leadership he came out and joined the YSR Congress Party for sometime before deciding to keep out of politics for few years.
In the last three years, he has been with the BJP and built a perfect rapport with the people of the constituency taking up their issues. He first came into notice when he took up the cause of the Anganwadi workers. A rally with 15,000 Anganwadi workers in Kamareddy literally shook the administration.
His reputation and accessibility to the locals round the clock is what endeared him to the electorate. Even in his campaign, people voluntarily attended his meetings and expressed their open support.
Mr. Venkataramana Reddy minced no words when he took on the BRS Government on the issue masterplan for Kamareddy. Stating that he would not budge an inch till the master plan proposal was withdrawn, the BJP leader resorted to indefinite fast and also gave a call for Chalo Gajwel which drew huge response till the police detained him.
As the agitation for withdrawal of master plan gained momentum the BRS Government had to intervene and announce that the proposal is kept in cold storage. He is credited with bring the Government on its knees on this issue and people have openly acknowledged it.
Speaking to The Hindu during the election campaign last month, Mr. Venkataramana Reddy openly challenged whether KCR and Revanth Reddy would be accessible to the people of Kamareddy, if at all they won.
“I am pucca local and they are non-locals,” he had repeatedly asserted during his interaction.
This one assertion seemed to have gone down well with the people.
Published - December 03, 2023 05:58 pm IST
