After the demise of Bhuma Nagireddy of the Telugu Desam Party on March 12, 2017, the Nandyal assembly seat fell vacant. The TDP requested the main opposition party to allow the election to be unanimous but the YSRCP announced that it will contest the by-election, claiming that the seat belonged to it. The polling for this seat will be held on August 23, with the results being announced on August 28.
The YSRCP always considered the Rayalaseema region as their fiefdom as Jaganmohan Reddy is from Kadappa. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu too hails from Rayalaseema region in Chittoor district. Consequently, the by-poll has become a contest between both these parties and hence a stiff contest is expected.
The TDP has fielded Bhuma Brahmananda Reddy, nephew of Bhuma Nagireddy, as its candidate while the YSCRP announced the candidature of Silpa Mohan Reddy, who defected from the TDP recently.
Bhuma Nagireddy was from the TDP; he and his family jumped parties only to return to the TDP once again while Silpa Mohan Reddy was originally from the Congress. He later joined the TDP and moved to YSRCP in June this year.
Earlier an MLA with the Congress under Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy, this was home coming for Silpa Mohan Reddy. He had expected a party ticket, but Naidu chose Brahmananda Reddy of Bhuma family — the cousin of Tourism Minister Bhuma Akhila Priya, leading Silpa Mohan Reddy to shift parties and criticise the TDP leadership for allegedly losing its grip over the party affairs. He also accused Naidu for focusing on Amaravati and neglecting the Rayalaseema region in general and Nandyal constituency in particular.
Bhuma Nagireddy was first elected to the AP Assembly in 1992 following the death of his brother Bhuma Sekhar Reddy, a sitting MLA from Allagadda constituency. He won again in the 1994 assembly polls. In 1996, he gained national fame when he contested on a Telugu Desam Party ticket against the then prime minister P.V. Narasimha Rao and lost. Nagireddy then got elected thrice as MP. However, he was defeated twice in the assembly elections held in 2004 and 2009. The Bhuma family joined Praja Rajyam Party founded by actor and politician K. Chiranjeevi, but when the party was merged with the Congress, Nagi Reddy along with his wife Shobha Nagireddy joined YSRCP.
The couple won the 2014 elections but Shobha died in a road accident before the results were announced. In the bypolls, their daughter Akhila Priya contested in place of her mother from Allagadda constituency and won. Before Bhuma family shifted its loyalties to the TDP, it was with the YSRC and Nandyal happened to be YSRC bastion. However, the Bhuma family defected to the Telugu Desam Party in February 2016, along with his daughter Bhuma Akhila Priya, MLA of Allahabad. Nagi Reddy was rumoured to be among the front runners for the ministerial berth in the Andhra Pradesh Cabinet in the next expansion.
In fact the YSRCP and its president Jaganmohan Reddy did not even attend the funeral of Bhuma Nagireddy, leading to a heated argument between Jagan and Naidu.
While the candidates of the opposing parties will do the needful to win the seat, the Nandyal by-election has become a headache for other leaders, one from the ruling party and one from the opposition party. TDP MLC Silpa Chakrapani Reddy and YSRCP MLA Katasani Rami Reddy are finding it difficult because their own family members are contesting the election from rival parties. Chakrapani Reddy’s brother Silpa Mohan Reddy is contesting the polls on the YSRC ticket while Katasani Rami Reddy’s son-in-law Bhuma Brahmananda Reddy is the TDP candidate.
Meanwhile Naidu is leaving no stone unturned to win this particular seat. A lot is at stake here, considering it is just a year and more for the general elections to happen. He asked officials to speed up all government works, including houses, tap connections, supply of 20 litres of purified drinking water at Rs. 2 per litre, clean up Nandyal and give up fibre grid connection to the constituency.
He also promised at a public meeting that he would transform Nandyal into a metropolis.
Naidu also sanctioned a bridge over the Kundu river, costing Rs. 7.33 crore, promising that he would develop the area surrounding Kundu river, Chamakaluva and Maddileruvagu into major recreational spots.
In Nandyal, of the 42 municipal wards, the TDP won 29 but of them 15 are now with Mohan Reddy. Unlike about 20 YSRC MLAs who joined the TDP, Jagan Mohan Reddy’s councillors have not shown any signs of joining the yellow party, at least as yet and they are now with the YSRC party only.
Come hell or high water, the TDP is determined to win the Nandyal assembly by-election.
