Know your MLA: Kanna’s political career filled with ups and downs

Guntur : Sattenapalli MLA Kanna Lakshminarayana is a political stalwart of erstwhile Guntur district and has seen many ups and downs in his four-decades political career. Considered a firebrand leader of Guntur, he won from Sattenapalli of Palnadu district in the recent elections. He emerged victorious four times from Pedakurapadu and one time from Guntur West Assembly constituency on Congress party tickets. He served for 13 years as a minister in the state Cabinet during the Congress government.

In 2019 general elections, he contested to the Lok Sabha from Narasaraopet constituency and lost. In the 2024 Assembly elections, he was elected to Assembly from Sattenapalli on TDP ticket defeating his rival and YSRCP minister for irrigation Ambati Rambabu.

Kanna has many followers in coastal Andhra as he is one of the powerful Kapu leaders in the state. He has good contacts with the JSP chief Pawan Kalyan too. When the TDP was in opposition, he actively participated in the agitation for state capital Amaravati and fought against the corruption in YSRCP government.

He conducted a campaign against the corruption in the YSRCP and strengthened the TDP in the constituency. TDP leader Dr Kodela Sivaram, who opposed the leadership of Kanna Lashminarayana, finally supported his leadership and worked for his victory. He united all the groups in the TDP and worked hard which helped him to get elected to the Assembly for the sixth time.

As MLA, every day he meets the people in the constituency and enquires about their problems and takes steps to resolve them. Kanna always takes an active role in the party programmes.