ANANTAPUR: Kurnool politics took an interesting twist after former Union minister Kotla Jayasuryaprakash Reddy met TD president and AP Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu over dinner in Amaravati and is expected to join the ruling party along with his wife Sujathamma.
Mr Suryaprakash Reddy is the son of former chief minister Kotla Vijayabhaskar Reddy, and was in political oblivion after the Congress rout in 2014. He was a prime proponent of the Congress-TD alliance in AP, which did not come through. He had also complained that he was being ignored by the high command.
Deputy Chief Minister K.E. Krishna Murthy, who hails from Kurnool district, has political differences with the Kotla family and is reportedly opposing the entry of Mr Suryaprakash Reddy.
Sources said Kurnool MP Butta Renuka may be offered any Assembly segment in Kurnool district and the TD would nominate Mr Suryaprakash Reddy for the Lok Sabha elections. His wife, Ms Sujathamma, is likely to be fielded from Dhone or another Assembly segment on a TD ticket.
In a jolt to the YSR Congress, top party leader V. Vijaya Sai Reddy’s brother-in-law is all set to join the Telugu Desam. Mr Gadikota Dwarakantah Reddy was denied a ticket to contest from the Rajampet Assembly constituency in Kadapa district, a stronghold of the Opposition party. Mr Reddy hails from Rajampet and was lobbying for the nomination but the party high command reportedly plans to field Mr Meda Mallikarjuna Reddy, the local legsislator who defected from the Telugu Desam.
Meanwhile, Kadapa TD district unit president Srinivasulu Reddy demanded that Mr Mallikarjuna Reddy’s father should resign from the TTD board because the legislator had defected.
