Know your MLA: Bidding adieu to biz, Vishnu Kumar Raju ventured into politics

Visakhapatnam : With an aim to serve society, Penmatsa Vishnu Kumar Raju decided to bid adieu to his business and forayed into politics in 2013.

Visakhapatnam north constituency MLA was not only a topper in his academics but also a successful businessman who, eventually, rose to be an outstanding politician.

Whenever there is a point of discussion about the top BJP leaders of Andhra Pradesh, Vishnu Kumar Raju’s name pops up in the list.

Within a year of joining the BJP, he got an opportunity to contest as an MLA and emerged victorious by contesting from Visakhapatnam north constituency. Both in 2014 and in 2024, when the BJP, TDP and JSP allied with one another, he contested from the BJP ticket and won both the times.

Even in 2019, when the mainstream parties contested individually, he garnered highest votes among the BJP leaders in the state despite his defeat in the elections.

In the 2024 polls, he contested against YSRCP strong candidate KK Raju, who started focusing on his strengths and working on his flaws for the past five years.

Despite the stiff competition, Vishnu Kumar emerged victorious with a majority of 47,534 votes by contesting from the Visakhapatnam north constituency for the second time.

Whether he is in power or not, he always ensures that he is among the masses, pays attention to their woes and works towards resolving them.

Among a few leaders, who pointed out YSRCP’s failures and corruption in the past five years, Vishnu Kumar, known to be upfront, used to be either criticising or opposing the then ruling party. Also, he has a record of bringing forth public issues in various Assembly sessions that lasted for 33 hours.