It's all in their blood

DESARAJU SURYA
Visakhapatnam: Y S Rajasekhara Reddy-Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, Chiranjeevi-Allu Aravind, K Chandrasekhar Rao-K T Rama Rao, Daggubati Purandeswari-Daggubati Venkateswara Rao, Asaduddin Owaisi-Akbaruddi Owaisi, Panabaka Lakshmi-Panabaka Krishnaiah….the list goes on. Two of the aforementioned are father-son duo, two are wife-husband, one is a duo of brothers and yet another is a brother-brother-in-law duo. Probably no other state in the country has such a long list of blood relatives seeking their political fortunes in not just one party but also across different parties.
Elections-2009 in Andhra Pradesh are witnessing many such people from the same family contesting the elections. In some cases, interestingly, the kin are directly fighting each other like in the case of former Union minister Ch Vidyasagar Rao of the BJP who is pitted against his nephew Chennamaneni Ramesh of the TDP from the Vemulavada Assembly segment. While Rajasekhara Reddy is contesting the Pulivendula Assembly seat, his son and industrialist Jaganmohan Reddy is seeking election for the first time from Kadapa Lok Sabha constituency which was earlier represented by the former. State housing minister Bosta Satyanarayana is in the race for Assembly from Chipurupalli Assembly segment while his better half Jhansi is seeking re-election from Vizianagaram Lok Sabha seat. Botsa’s younger brother Appala Narasaiah is also contesting the Gajapatinagaram Assembly seat while their nephew Appala Naidu is the Congress candidate from Nellimarla. In a way, the Botsa family hit a jackpot what with four of its members bagging the Congress tickets in the same elections. “Even the Chief Minister could not get more than two tickets for his family and had to persuade his own brother-in-law to give up hope for the Kadapa Assembly seat,” one senior Congress leader observed. Though he kept his two actor brothers away from the electoral battle, Praja Rajyam Party chief Chiranjeevi could, however, not deny his brother-in-law Allu Aravind a chance to seek his electoral fortunes for the Lok Sabha. While Chiranjeevi himself is contesting from Tirupati and Palakollu Assembly seats, Aravind is in race for the Anakapalli Lok Sabha seat in north coastal Andhra. Telugu Desam Parliamentary Party leader K Yerran Naidu and his brother Atchannaidu are seeking re-election to their respective positions from Srikakulam district. The Congress deputy leader in the outgoing Lok Sabha, G Venkataswamy, has opted out of the race this time and gave his Peddapalli (SC) seat to his son G Vivekananda. Vivek’s brother Vinod is a minister in the Y S Rajasekhara Reddy Cabinet and is seeking re-election from Chennuru in Adilabad district. Another minister Aanam Ramanarayana Reddy and his brother Vivekananda Reddy are seeking re-election to the Assembly while sitting MP Mekapati Rajamohan Reddy and his brother Chandrasekhar Reddy are in race for Lok Sabha and Assembly respectively from Sri Potti Sriramulu Nellore district. Sitting MLA Komatreddi Venkat Reddy and his brother Rajagopal Reddy are contesting the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections in Nalgonda district. IT Minister R Damodar Reddy and his brother Venkat Reddy, Revenue Minister Dharmana Prasada Rao and his brother Krishnadas, government whip Mallu Ravi and his brother Bhatti Vikramarka are from the Congress. Minister Redya Naik and his daughter Kavitha are fighting the Assembly election from Warangal district. The TDP too has fielded brothers K E Krishnamurthy and K E Prabhakar to the Assembly from Kurnool district. Besides, it has given tickets to a couple Ramesh Rathod and Suman Rathod in Adilabad district. In Praja Rajyam Party, former minister K Kalavenkata Rao and his brother Ganapathi Rao are seeking election to the Assembly and the Lok Sabha respectively. MP-MLA couple Kotla Suryaprakash Reddy-Sujathamma are seeking re-election to their respective positions from Kurnool district. Another couple Bhuma Nagi Reddy and Sobha Nagi Reddy, which switched over to the PRP from TDP, is fighting the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections respectively. In Narayankhed, brothers Bhupal Reddy and Vijaypal Reddy are fighting each other on TRS and PRP tickets respectively. In Hyderabad, Majlis Ittehadul-e-Muslimeen MP Asaduddin Owaisi and his MLA brother Akbaruddi Owaisi are seeking re-election from their respective constituencies. Apart from TRS chief KCR and his son Rama Rao, the former’s nephew T Harish Rao is also contesting the election from Medak. MP Erraballi Dayakar Rao is seeking election to the Assembly this time on TDP ticket while his younger brother Pradeep Rao is the PRP candidate from different segments. PRP leader T Devender Goud and his nephew Mukesh Goud, a minister in the Rajasekhara Reddy Cabinet, are also fighting the Assembly elections from different constituencies. Devender Goud is also contesting the Malkajgiri Lok Sabha election. Mana Party, which has an electoral alliance with the PRP, has fielded its president Kasani Gnaneshwar, his brother Narasimhaiah and nephew Veeresh for different Assembly seats.