Kurnool: With fast changing political equations, where foes turn into bosom friends, Kurnool district has reached a point that could ruin the careers of top leaders. Rumblings have started among aspirants for Kurnool Lok Sabha constituency.
Sitting MP Butta Renuka is disillusioned with changing political developments. As Kotla Surya Prakash Reddy is being roped in, the MP has become a victim of TDP politics. Senior leaders such as T.G. Venkatesh and K.E. Krishna Murthy are also clueless about the changes in the party, it is said.
Kurnool MLA S.V. Mohan Reddy was quick to welcome Kotla family into the TD and said this would augur well for the party in Rayalaseema districts.
Butta Renuka, a novice in politics, was offered the MP seat by YSRC in 2014 elections and she won it with the support of backward communities, particularly Padmashalis and Boyas. She worked hard to reach out to the people in fulfilling poll promises through the resources available from MPLADs. But in 2017, she changed her mind and shifted political allegiance to the TD, citing development of the constituency as the main reason.
An insider said that she changed the party only to get away from the ‘money targets’ set by YSRC chief Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy. It was said that if she failed to fill the coffers of YSRC, she may have to forego Kurnool Lok Sabha seat and settle down for Yemmiganur Assembly constituency.
Speaking to this correspondent, she said on Tuesday that she did not receive any message from the party’s top leadership about offering of Kurnool LS seat to Kotla Surya Prakash Reddy. “I can’t say anything now, till I hear from my leader N. Chandrababu Naidu.”
TD district president Somisetty Venkateswarlu said that the party leadership weighs all the factors before taking a decision and no one would be put to any sort of disability.
YSRC, which was making all sorts of tricks under its hat to gain popular leaders into its fold, is said to have wooed Kotla Surya Prakash Reddy but failed. A YSRC leader said that it was quite impossible to fulfill the dream list of Kotla as he was bargaining tickets for his wife, son and his followers. “There is intense competition among the YSRC aspirants within the party and therefore we left at that,” he said.
Kurnool LS constituency comprises Kurnool, Kodumur, Yemmiganur, Mantralyam, Adoni, Alur and Pathikonda constituencies. Demographically, the region has widespread clusters of BCs, including Kuruva, Padmashali, Gowds and Boyas. A leader from BC community has a mass appeal and therefore YSRC chose Butta Renuka as their mascot.
YSRC leader Gouru Venkat Reddy said that a BC leader would be contesting from his party. “A US-based NRI has also been eyeing the Kurnool LS from the YSRC and it is only a matter of days to shortlist the candidates, he said.
