Nellore: Last minute entrants into the YSR Congress from the Telugu Desam, like Balli Durga Prasad, Adala Prabhakar Reddy and Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy, won Lok Sabha seats. Durga Prasad won the Tirupati MP seat while Adala Prabhakar Reddy and Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy registered victory in Nellore and Ongole Parliamentary constituencies with thumping majority.
However, the defection of Adala Prabhakar Reddy to the YSRC, in the midst of his campaign as a TD nominee for Nellore Rural Assembly seat, created a dent to his reputation as a shrewd politician and there were doubts over his chances of victory initially, due to this move but the Jagan wave shadowed all the shortcomings.
Known for his ability to identify the party that would come to power, Prabhakar Reddy's move to join the Congress from the TD in 2004, also paid rich dividends to him. He was elected to the Assembly in 2004, as well as in 2009, from Sarveypalli constituency on a Congress ticket, defeating his arch rival in the TD, Somireddy Chandramohan Reddy, both the times.
He returned to the TD fold in 2014 and contested unsuccessfully for the Nellore MP seat but the TD came to power then.
This time, Mr Prabhakar Reddy, as the YSRC nominee for Nellore Parliamentary seat, defeated his nearest TD candidate Beeda Mastan Rao, with over 1.48 lakh votes.
TD senior leader in Gudur, Balli Durga Prasad, a native of Venkatagiri town in Nellore district, had represented Gudur segment in the Assembly four times and he also served as the education minister in Chandrababu Naidu's government in the past.
In 2014, he was upset that the party leadership sidelined him for giving the Gudur ticket to newcomers. Though he joined the YSRC unconditionally, party president Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy selected him to contest for the Tirupati Parliamentary constituency.
Incidentally, the TD nominee and former Union minister Panabaka Lakshmi also bagged the ticket after joining the TD at the last minute. However, luck favoured Durga Prasad and he won the MP seat with a margin 2.28 lakh votes.
With respect to Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy, he had been dilly-dallying on switching over to the YSRC, even when there was an open invitation since long. Probably, he was the only leader in the TD, among those who migrated to the YSRC in the last minute, to inform TD chief Chandrababu Naidu about his departure.
He defeated TD minister Sidda Raghava Rao with a margin of 2.14 lakh votes.
