Harish Rao’s bastion Siddipet set to elect its favourite leader with thumping majority, development holds key to victory

Assembly Constituency : Siddipet

District: Siddipet

MLA: Thanneeru Harish Rao (Velama)

Total Voters: 2,23,960

Booths: 273

Urban Voters: 42%

Rural Voters: 58.%

Male: 50%

Female: 50%

Caste & Religious Demography:

• Gen + OBC: 83.8%

• SC: 15.1%

• ST: 1.2%

• Hindu: 91%

• Muslim: 8.1%

• Others: 0.9%

Candidates:

Thanneeru Harish Rao (BRS)

Thanneeru Harish Rao was born in Thotapalli village, Karimnagar district to T Satyanarayana Rao and Laxmi Bai. His father was a government employee. Harish Rao studied at Vaniniketan Paathashala. He completed his diploma from the Government polytechnic in Hyderabad. He completed his graduation From Kakatiya University. He belongs to the Velama community. He is the nephew of K Chandrashekar Rao. Harish Rao is married to Srinitha Rao. They have two kids, a son, Archishman and a daughter, Vaishnavi. He is the man behind the successful execution of the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project and Mission Kakatiya.

Poojala Harikrishna (Congress)

The man contesting opposite Harish Rao on behalf of the Congress is the TPCC general secretary Poojala Harikrishna. He was an ex-IYC in charge of the Siddipet constituency and does social service through PHK Foundation. During the 2018 elections, Congress did not contest from this constituency. The seat was given to Bhavani Marikanti of Telangana Jana Samthi (TJC).

Doodi Srikanth Reddy (BJP)

Doodi Srikanth Reddy was born on November 4, 1981 to Raji Reddy and Anasuya in Siddipet. In 1996, he acquired his Secondary School Certificate from ZPHS Thadkapally, Siddipet. He completed his Intermediate at S.V.B Junior College of Siddipet in 1998. He completed his bachelor's degree at the Government College, Siddipet in 2002 and his MBA at Vinayaka Missions University, Salem in 2005.

Srikanth Reddy Completed His L.L.B at Vinayaka Law College Thimmareddypally, Kondapaka, in 2020. He is the Siddipet district BJP president. He started his political career in the BJP as a ward councilor in Siddipet. As a BJYM leader, he actively participated in the Telangana agitation. He protested against the then chief minister N.Chandra Babu Naidu's visit to Siddipet. He was arrested and seriously injured in a cane charge by police at the AP Secretariat protesting against the delay in fee reimbursement release.

Assembly constituency information:

• Geographically, Siddipet constituency has Siddipet town, Chinnakodur and Nangnoor mandals
• This is the traditional stronghold seat of the KCR family.
• KCR has been MLA from this seat since 1985, starting with the TDP. In 2001, after the formation of the TRS (now BRS), he contested the by-poll for the same seat.
• From 2004, Harsh Rao contested and won this seat in all general and by-elections with incremental margins.

MLA Profile:

Political history: Harish Rao started his political journey with the BRS as a youth leader. He was elected to the Assembly at the age of 32 from Siddipet in 2004 by-poll after KCR resigned.

He was elected as an MLA from the same Assembly constituency in the 2008 by-poll, 2009, 2010 by-poll, 2014 and 2018 elections.

He gradually increased his margin in all elections, starting with a margin of 24,000 votes to 1,20,000 votes in the 2018 Assembly elections.

He is a troubleshooter for KCR in the BRS party. In 2014, he served as an Irrigation Minister. In the second term of the BRS Government, he was not initially given any ministry, but later in the reshuffle, he was accommodated as finance minister.

Strengths: He has a good ground network and strong cadre support. He has a separate cadre base within the party and constituency.

Financial Strength: Strong

Remarks:

He is a strong candidate who is very much accessible to the people and has a good ground presence.

A strong loyalist to his uncle KCR and family

Cultural

Kommati Chervuvu

2014 Assembly analysis :

• All candidates who contested against Harish Rao lost their deposits.

• He got a 96,000 votes majority in the 2014 Assembly election

2018 Assembly analysis:

• Harish Rao increased the margin from 96,000 to 1,18,000 in the 2018 Assembly elections from the 2014 Assembly elections.

• The alliance candidate from the T could get only 12,500 votes.

• BJP candidate Naini Narotham Reddy got 11,000 votes.

Current Situation:

The seat is still a stronghold of the BRS and Harish Rao.

Key Local Issues:

Ring Road for Siddipet

Increasing land values and land-related crime

Widening of internal roads in Siddipet town

New railway line