Man of masses Kotamreddy Sridhar Reddy records hat-trick from Nellore Rural

Nellore : The 60-year-old Kotamreddy Sridhar Reddy, considered a mass leader, got elected to the Legislative Assembly for the third time from Nellore Rural constituency. A resident of Ramalingapuram in the city, Kotamreddy started his political journey as a leader of Akhil Bharathiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) in 1990s. He led several agitations on behalf of student community.

He joined YSR Congress Party when it was established in 2011 and has contested on the its ticket and emerged victorious by defeating Sannapureddy Suresh Reddy of BJP with a majority of 25,653 votes. The party nominated him for the second term in 2019 and he was successfully elected again defeating Shaik Abdul Aziz of TDP by 20,776 votes majority.

His attention towards the people, especially from downtrodden sections, earned him the fame as a mass leader. He is well known for outspoken nature often with controversial comments which make him to figure in headlines in politics. In fact, sensational comments on Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy, former advisor to YS Jagan Mohan Reddy levelling phone tapping allegations made him to quit from YSRCP.

Accordingly, he is the first YSRCP MLA to desert the party after making controversial statements against Jagan Mohan Reddy which were followed by another two MLAs Anam Ramanarayana Reddy of Venkatagiri and Mekapati Chandrasekhar Reddy of Udayagiri well before the 2024 elections.

Kotamreddy subsequently joined TDP and contested as its candidate in 2024. Despite YSRCP’s serious efforts to defeat him by fielding senior politician Adala Prabhakara Reddy against him, Kotamreddy emerged victorious by a margin of 34,480 votes to record a hat-trick win.