3 Family Members of Miryalaguda MLA in Fray for Civic Poll

The MLA’s wife, Bathula Madhavi, has filed her nomination from Ward No. 39, while his elder son Sai Prasanna is contesting from Ward No. 40 and his younger son from Ward No. 28.

In the previous municipal elections, Bathula Laxma Reddy and his wife had both contested. While Laxma Reddy won, his wife lost. He later resigned from his councillor post to contest the 2023 Assembly elections from Miryalaguda.

According to political circles, the MLA is believed to have fielded his family members as part of a strategy to secure the election of a close aide as chairperson of the Miryalaguda municipality, should the Congress secure the required majority of councillors. Former municipal chairperson and Congress leader Tirunagari Bhargava is also an aspirant for the post.

Sources said the MLA’s camp expects that having three family members elected as councillors would strengthen its position in the event of any split among Congress councillors during the chairperson’s election. The decision to field multiple family members, however, has sparked debate and discussion in local political circles.

Galwan clash martyr’s mother in fray

Meanwhile, in Suryapet, former minister and MLA Guntakandla Jagadish Reddy has fielded Bikkumalla Manjula, the mother of slain Army officer Bikkumalla Santosh Babu, as the BRS candidate from Ward No. 44 of the Suryapet municipality.

Colonel Santosh Babu was killed during a violent face-off with Chinese troops in the Galwan Valley in Ladakh in 2020 and was posthumously awarded the Maha Vir Chakra, India’s second-highest wartime gallantry award.

Manjula said she decided to contest the municipal elections to serve the people, recalling the support extended by the public to her family after her son’s death.