BRS candidate confident of victory in Bhupalapally, Congress has history of offerig tough fight

Assembly Constituency: Bhupalpally

District: Jayashankar Bhupalpally

MLA: Gandra Venkata Ramana Reddy (INC )

Rural Voters: 87%

Reservation: GEN

Total Voters: 2,63,452

Booths: 317 Urban Voters: 13% Rural Voters: 87%

Male: 50.40%

Female: 49.60%

Caste & Religious Demography

Gen + OBC: 74.70%

SC: 20.30%

ST: 5.00%

Hindu: 96.70%%

Muslim: 2.60%

Others : 0.7%

MLA Candidates

Gandra Venkata Ramana Reddy (BRS)

Venkata Ramana Reddy, a three-time MLA from Bhupalpally, began his political career with the Congress party. He was elected as a Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) on behalf of the Congress party in the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly Elections from 2007 to 2009.

From 2009 to 2014, he served as an MLA from the Bhupalpally constituency in Andhra Pradesh. He won with the highest majority of 69,918 votes on behalf of the Congress party in the 2018 Telangana Assembly elections.

Venkata Ramana Reddy recently quit the Congress and joined the Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS).

Gandra Satyanarayana Rao (INC)

Gandra Satyanarayana Rao, an independent candidate in the 2018 Telangana elections, is set to run as the Congress candidate for 2023 from Bhupalapally. Rao, previously the district president of the TDP, resigned in November 2017 to join the BRS. Prior to that, he had contested on behalf of the BJP in the 2014 Assembly elections.

Gandra Satyanarayana Rao (Velama) garnered at least 25 percent of the votes in various elections. Reddy voters favor the INC candidates, while other communities may see a split in votes between different candidates.

Chandupatla Keerthi Reddy (BJP)

Chandupatla Keerthi Reddy (43) made her debut into politics in 2014 by joining the BJP and contested in Telangana elections in 2018 on behalf of the BJP in Bhupalapally. Keerthi Reddy always had an advantage over other candidates given that she happens to be the daughter-in-law of senior BJP leader Ch. Janga Reddy, who set a record by defeating P. V. Narasimha Rao in 1984 Lok Sabha elections.

Geography: Bhupalpally, a rural constituency, serves as the district headquarters of Jayashankar Bhupalpally district. This region is home to industries such as Singareni Collieries, Kakatiya Thermal power plant, and some small agriculture-based industries. This constituency comprises six mandals: Mogullapally, Chityal, Bhupalpally, Ghanpur (Mulugu), Regonda, and Shayampet.

Background: The Assembly constituency established in 2009, has been engaged in a political battle between the INC and the BRS since its inception. The INC has won this constituency twice in 2009 and 2018 elections.

Personal details: Born on May 5, 1965, Venkata Ramana Reddy studied at polytechnic and later started a business and he was actively involved in student organisations. He is married to Jyothi, a prominent politician and current chairperson of the Warangal Zilla Parishad. Gandra Bhupal Reddy, his brother, is also active in politics.

Political details: Gandra Venkata Ramana Reddy began his political career in the NC and was appointed as an MLC in 2007. In 2009, he contested as an MLA from the INC and was appointed the Government Chief Whip in 2012.

After losing the 2014 election, he contested as an MLA candidate in 2018 from the INC and won and later joined the ruling BRS.

Profession: Business/Stone crushers

Allegations of Sexual harassment: There are currently four pending cases against him.

2014 Assembly Elections Analysis

The TRS, supported by the Konda Surekha family with influence in the Assembly constituency, managed to win the Assembly elections due to anti-incumbency against INC MLA Gandra Venkataramana Reddy and sympathy for BRS nominee Sirikonda Madhusudhanachary due to Telangana agitation.

As part of the TDP-BJP coalition, this Assembly constituency was allotted to the BJP; however, due to lack of cadre, TDP leader Gandra Sathyanarayana Rao contested for MLA on the BJP symbol. As ZPTC from Ghanpur Mandal, he successfully consolidated the TDP and BJP vote share in the Assembly Constituency.

2018 Assembly Elections Analysis

The 2018 Assembly Elections saw a fierce competition between candidates from INC, IND, and BRS. BRS rebel candidate Gandra Satyanarayana Rao successfully split the pro-government vote, gaining more votes than the BRS candidate.

Madhusudanachary lost the election due to poor health and lack of development work, and he was also not accessible to the public.

There were also allegations of land grabbing against his son Pradeep, and due to his poor health, his three sons were put in charge of the constituency, causing infighting and divisions within the party.

Gandra Venkatarama Reddy won the election with 33.5 percent of the votes.

Current Situation

The BRS holds a strong presence in this constituency, with independent candidate Gandra Satyanarayana Rao joining the INC recently. The BJP is actively enhancing its presence in the constituency and Chandupatla Keerthi Reddy is quite active in this constituency.

Key Local Issues

• People are seeking agriculture marketing and storage facilities for cotton and chili crops.
• No fire Station
• Podu land issue
• People are experiencing issues with Singareni opencast mining.