Though new entrant to politics and contesting for the first time, 38-year-old Chandupatla Keerthi Reddy has acquired all the skills to attract voters in the Bhupalpally constituency on the BJP ticket.
Being daughter-in-law of senior BJP leader Ch. Janga Reddy, who created a record by defeating P. V. Narasimha Rao in 1984, Ms Keerthi Reddy has the advantage over other candidates. She has been going round the constituency ever since she joined the BJP in 2014 and has successfully got the party ticket.
‘Empty promises’
Speaking to The Hindu during her campaign in Atmakur mandal on Friday, she said people in the villages have been expressing their displeasure with the performance of the TRS government.
They were not happy with the empty promises made by Mr. K. Chandrasekhar Rao. This time people want a change, she said and added that she stood a good chance being young and dynamic.
Central funds
“Apart from failures such as non-delivery of double bedroom houses and error-filled revision of land records, I am talking about Modi’s achievements. For instance, all the gram panchayats got funds directly from the Central government. It is the BJP government that has spent over ₹ 46,000 crore for roads in Telangana State,” she explained.
Tension in villages
Ms. Keerthi Reddy observed that the error-filled revision of land records led to tension among people in the rural areas. Also people were asking why Mr. Chandrasekhar Rao called for elections when he promised that he would not seeks votes without giving drinking water under Mission Bhagiratha scheme. The newly created Bhupalpally district has 11 mandals — Bhupalpally, Chityal, Mulug Ghanpur, Kataram, Mahadevpur, Maha Mutharam, Malharrao, Mogullapalli, Palimela, Regond and Tekumatla.
Fresh face
Speaker S. Madhusudhana Chary from TRS and former MLA Gandra Venkataramana Reddy from the Congress are in the fray and TRS rebel Gandra Satyanarayana Rao is also contesting as independent candidate.
Ms. Keerthi Reddy said people have seen what Mr. Madhusudhana Chary and Mr. Venkataramana Reddy did to the constituency.
“Both the leaders focused on amassing wealth and resorted to corruption. Now people want a change and I am promising to do my best,” she added.