Hyderabad: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) increased its seat count in Telangana to eight but the state party chief, G. Kishan Reddy, decided to make a 116 km journey from Hyderabad to Kamareddy constituency to congratulate Katipally Venkata Ramana Reddy. And with very good reason.
Ramana Reddy, 54, just defeated the outgoing chief minister K.Chandrashekar Rao and a frontrunner for the top post, Revanth Reddy, in Kamareddy.
“We decided to felicitate him in his constituency since he has become the biggest winner for the BJP,” said one party worker. “He is a giant killer.”
Barely known beyond his constituency till results day on Sunday, Ramana Reddy has since gained instant fame. Kamareddy was meant to be the place where KCR and his arch rival Revanth were meant to settle their long-standing grudge.
It’s Saffron Wave in Kamareddy.
Hearty Congratulations to Shri Katipally Venkata Ramana Reddy @kvr4kamareddy on winning the Kamareddy seat.
It is extremely heartening that our Kamareddy Candidate, Shri Katipally Venkata Ramana Reddy has defeated both the Telangana CM KCR and… pic.twitter.com/IOafHGpFXn
— G Kishan Reddy (@kishanreddybjp) December 3, 2023
Instead, the BJP candidate won by 6,741 votes against KCR and Revanth Reddy who trailed by over 11,000 votes, according to the Election Commission (EC) data. The exact winning margin will be announced Monday.
“He is a very strong leader. People thought that if Revanth Reddy or KCR wins, there will be a by-election since both were contesting from two seats. Both are parachute leaders,” BJP spokesperson N.V. Subhash told ThePrint.
Ramana Reddy is never out of his constituency and rarely ever visits the party office in Hyderabad’s Nampally, he added.
Even though the Congress’s Mohd. Shabbir Ali had cultivated this constituency, he was moved away to field Revanth Reddy as KCR had decided to contest from Kamareddy apart from his home constituency of Gajwel.
Several other locals referred to Ramana Reddy as the “son of the soil” since he has worked extensively in the constituency. In 2018, Ramana Reddy came a distant third, bagging just over 15,000 votes as against Gampa Govardhan of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) who tallied over 68,000 votes, according to the EC data.
Ramana Reddy became a household name when he championed the protests against KCR’s alleged move to usurp agricultural land in Kamareddy through its masterplan, Subhash said.
The draft master plan identified several zones in the region, classifying them as green and industrial, in around eight villages of the constituency. This fueled fear within the farming community of loss of lands.
Ramana Reddy’s protests and unrelenting stand had gained him an ardent following among the local population. “He has built community halls and homes in almost all the villages using his own money,” said one leader.
His work during the Covid pandemic was another reason why he was so popular among the masses, Subhash said.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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