TDP banks on powerful families to make a dent in YSR Congress turf

KURNOOL: This election, Kurnool district has a unique thing, more particularly in the ruling TDP. Leaders of the four-strong families in the district are with the ruling TDP and the yellow party is banking heavily on them to make a dent in the YSRC stronghold. Prominent leaders Kotla Suryaprakash Reddy, KE Krishna Murthy, Byreddy Rajasekhar Reddy and Akhila Priya and Brahmananda Reddy of the Bhuma family, who were in rival parties, are under the TDP umbrella now.

The TDP, in the 2014 elections, won just three of the 13 Assembly constituencies and it could not even win any of the two MP seats. The YSRC got majority of the seats in the district in the 2014 polls. However, the prominent Bhuma family and its two MPs have shifted loyalties to the TDP later. The YSRC, on its part, made some last-minute inroads into the TDP and managed to attract leaders like Kurnool MLA SV Mohan Reddy and Kurnool MP Butta Renuka, who were denied tickets in the TDP.

The TDP reaped rich dividends in the elections from 1983 to 1999, but it did not get the desired results after that. While it was the Congress which stopped the TDP tempo in the 2004 and 2009 general elections, the YSRC took the honours in the 2014 elections. The BJP and Jana Sena are also in the fray, but they are marginal players in the district.  

The district also has a good mix of old horses and fresh faces. The influx of fresh faces has, however, forced some veterans to keep away from the contest.Top leaders like Butta Renuka, SV Mohan Reddy and Byreddy Rajasekhar Reddy are not contesting the elections while Deputy Chief Minister KE Krishna Murthy made way for his son KE Shyam Babu who is testing his luck from Pathikonda Assembly segment. The elections also witnessed the entry of few professional doctors, businessmen and retired officers including IAS and IPS officers.