2 ex-CMs, 7 children of 4 ex-CMs, enter poll battle in Andhra Pradesh

AMARAVATHI: It’s all in the families. The power politics across India run in blood line of a few families. Take the case of Andhra Pradesh. Progeny of several former Chief Ministers have thrown their hats into the proverbial rink in the upcoming general elections in the State.

The list is long, and, in some cases, two children of some former Chief Ministers have entered the fray from different political parties.

The first one is Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy himself. He is the son of the late Chief Minister of undivided Andhra Pradesh Dr Y S Rajasekhara Reddy. He owes his maiden political entry to his father. Jagan was fielded and elected to Kadapa Lok Sabha seat in 2009 general elections. He has never tasted defeat, ever since. Within three months of his election, his father died in a tragic helicopter crash. Later, he had to break ranks with the Congress and he had launched his own political party and made it to the coveted chief ministership in 2019.

He is entering the Assembly elections and contesting from his home turf Pulivendula in Kadapa district once again to test his fortunes.

Breaking away from the family, his sister Y S Sharmila, who first launched a political party, YSR Telangana Party, in Telangana folded up and joined the Congress, which was decimated in Andhra Pradesh. She is trying her luck in her maiden contest from Kadapa Lok Sabha seat on which the YSR family always held the sway since 1984.

However, she is challenging the mighty political formation of her brother and has emerged as one of the bitterest critics of her brother. She is claiming the legacy of her late father Dr Rajasekhara Reddy suggesting that the late YSR was always a Congressman and that she’s seeking an election on behalf of the Congress. Therefore, she is appealing to people to vote for her. If Jagan stepped into the big shoes of his dad by becoming the Chief Minister, Sharmila stepped into YSR’s shoes as the APCC president, a post he also had held.

Then comes, Nanadmuri Balakrishna, a son of another former Chief Minister N T Rama Rao. He is seeking reelection from Hindupur Assembly constituency which he has been representing for two terms in a row in behalf of the Telugu Desam Party. TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu himself is the son-in-law of party founder president NTR.

Another child of NTR and Andhra Pradesh State unit president of the B haratiya Janata Party Daggubati Purandeshwari is entering the poll fray from Rajahmundry Lok Sabha seat. She joined the Congress and served as the Bapatla MP and later as Visakhapatnam MP and she was a minister of State in the Dr Manmohan Singh Cabinet of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA). Her husband Dr Daggubati Venkateswara Rao was the Congress MLA from Parchur Assembly constituency. After the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, she resigned the Congress in protest and joined the BJP. She lost miserably to YSR Congress party’s nominee Peddireddy Midhun Reddy in 2014 Lok Sabha elections and she fared miserably in 2019 Lok Sabha elections from Visakhapatnam.

Former Chief Minister Nedurumalli Janardhana Reddy’s son Ramkumar Reddy is now the YSR Congress candidate from Venkatagiri Assembly seat. This is the first time he is testing his political fortunes through elections. His mother Rajyalakshmi also served as the Education Minister in the Dr YS Rajasekhara Reddy Government.

Another person of this ilk is Nadendla Manohar. He is the son of former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Nadendla Bhaskara Rao, who had been in office for the briefest period of barely one month after breaking away from the TDP in 1984. Manohar later served as the Deputy Speaker and also the Speaker of the Andhra Pradesh Assembly. He is currently seeking an election from Tenali Assembly constituency on behalf of the Jana Sena Party.

Another former Chief Minister’s son who is in the race for the Assembly is Nara Lokesh from Mangalagiri Assembly seat. He is the son of Chandrababu Naidu. He lost to Alla Ramakrishna Reddy of the YSR Congress in 2019 elections. He was inducted in Naidu’s Cabinet by getting him elected to the post of an MLC in the State earlier.

Lokesh has the distinction of being the third-generation politician with his father and grandfather (maternal) serving as the Chief Ministers.

Interestingly, two former Chief Ministers are also running in the elections. N Chandrababu Naidu is seeking a reelection from Kuppam Assembly seat which he never lost since 1989. N Kiran Kumar Reddy, who was the last Chief Minister of the undivided Andhra Pradesh, is now contesting on behalf of the BJP from Rajampet Lok Sabha seat. His younger brother Kishore Kumar Reddy is contesting from Pileru Assembly constituency in Chittoor district.

The list of blood relations and political heirs contesting the elections is too long to explain.