Nellore: Venteru Venugopala Reddy may get YSRCP ticket in Kavali

Nellore : In the wake of serious dissidence and anti-incumbency factor among people, YSRCP is contemplating to give ticket to Venteru Venugopala Reddy by replacing sitting MLA Ramireddy Prathap Kumar Reddy from Kavali Assembly constituency in forthcoming elections.

An M Tech engineering graduate and contractor-cum politician Venteru Venugopala Reddy is from Brahmanakracka village in Jaladanki mandal. He started his political journey with TDP by contesting twice from Kavali Assembly constituency and one time from Nellore MP constituency.

He was defeated by Congress candidate Kaliki Yanadhi Reddy by a margin of just 7,440 votes after contesting on TDP ticket from Kavali Assembly constituency in 1994. But he won in 1999 against Congress nominee (Kaliki Yanadhi Reddy) with a majority of 18,445 votes.

However for various reasons, TDP has fielded Madala Janaki Ram from Kavali Assembly constituency by replacing 'Venteru' in 2004 elections and he was defeated by Congress candidate Magunta Parvathamma with the margin of 21,149 votes.

Later, Venteru Venugopala Reddy contested from Nellore Lok Sabha constituency on the TDP ticket but was defeated by Mekapati Rajamohan Reddy of Congress by a margin of 54,999 votes. In that election, Congress party had secured 4,30,235 votes while TDP got 3,75,242 votes.

After the defeat in 2009 elections, Venteru Venugopala Reddy quit the TDP and joined the YSRCP in 2012. But he could not adjust with the party top leadership after he was denied Kavali ticket in 2014 elections.

After a decade again he expressed willingness to work with YSRCP and desire to contest in the ensuing polls. In a recent press meet organised in Kavali town, Venteru Venugopala Reddy announced that he was ready to contest either from Kavali or Udayagiri if the YSRCP offered him the ticket.

According to highly confidential sources, YSRCP high command is examining whether to ask him to contest for Kavali Assembly seat or Nellore Lok Sabha seat.

It may be recalled that R Prathap Kumar Reddy got elected twice from Kavali Assembly constituency against TDP nominees Beeda Masthan Rao in 2014 and Katamreddy Vishnuvardhan Reddy in 2019 by a majority of 9,469 votes and 14,117 votes respectively.

But now political equations are different as it will be inevitable for YSRCP to replace R Prathap Kumar Reddy as he is facing serious opposition from people and within the party local leadership.