Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) president and caretaker Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has a strong sentiment attached with the temple of Lord Venkateswara located at Konayipally in Nanganoor mandal of Siddipet district. Since 1985, Mr. Rao has been filing nomination papers only after placing them at the feet of Lord Venkateswara and offering prayers.
In 1983, Mr. Rao had contested elections as a TDP candidate, but lost to Congress candidate M. Madan Mohan. During 1985 elections, after getting B- form from the TDP, Mr. Rao came to Konayipally and visited the Venakateswara temple and offered prayers before filing nomination papers. In that election he won with a majority of 16,000 votes against Congress candidate T. Mahender Reddy.
Huge victory margins
So far, Mr. Rao had been elected to the Assembly seven times,four times on TDP ticket and three times on TRS ticket . In 2004, he also got elected to the Lok Sabha from Karimnagar and resigned from the Assembly seat, which was contested by T. Harish Rao. In 2009 he contested to Lok Sabha representing Mahabubnagar constituency. In every election he has been winning with huge margins and thus his belief in the deity became stronger. Mr. Harish Rao has also been visiting the temple and offers prayers before filing nominations. After TRS came to power in 2014, the government sanctioned ₹3 crore for the development of the temple and ₹ 50 lakh for construction of a Kalyana mandapam. “The work is under progress. Vigraha Stahapan in the developed temple would be held on February 21. The temple has a history of more than five decades. One G. Yella Reddy who used to practise traditional medicine initially developed the temple in the late 1960s assisted by another person Gurava Reddy. Now the temple is taking a new shape,” K. Kanaka Reddy, a resident of the village told The Hindu. This time also, Mr. Chandrasekhar Rao is expected to visit the temple on November 14 before filing his nomination at Gajwel.