Gottipati Lakshmi, another political heir, to contest on TDP ticket

Darsi: TDP, BJP and Jana Sena Party alliance announced Dr Gottipati Lakshmi as its candidate from the Darsi Assembly seat on Friday.

Dr Lakshmi belongs to the Gottipati family, which has been influential for decades in the Martur, Parchur, Addanki and Darsi regions. The political history of the family started with Gottipati Hanumantha Rao. He was elected as MLA from Martur two times in 1983 and 1994 on TDP ticket and served as a minister. Hanumantha Rao has three brothers, Seshagiri Rao, Rambabu and Venkata Subbaiah. Hanumantha Rao and Seshagiri Rao married two sisters, and were a close knit family. With the support of Hanumantha Rao, Venkata Subbaiah served as MPP from Martur.

After the demise of Hanumantha Rao, his son Narasaiah won as the MLA from Martur in the by-election held in 1997 as independent candidate and won in 1999 on the TDP ticket. He was defeated by his uncle Seshagiri Rao’s son Ravi Kumar of Congress in 2004 at Martur, and by Daggubati Venkateswara Rao of Congress at Parchur in 2009. Narsaiah joined the YSRCP at the time of its formation and worked as Parchur in-charge. After the death of Narasaiah in 2013, his son Bharat Kumar contested on the YSRCP ticket from Parchur but was unsuccessful.

Meanwhile, Gottipati Ravi Kumar won as MLA from Addanki on Congress ticket in 2009, on YSR Congress Party ticket in 2014, and on TDP ticket in 2019. Now, he is contesting on the TDP ticket from his base, Addanki.

Dr Gottipati Lakshmi, another member of the third generation from the Gottipati family in politics, is the granddaughter of Gottipati Hanumantha Rao, daughter of Gottipati Narasaiah and sister of Gottipati Bharat Kumar. She ventured into politics from Darsi. Lakshmi’s in-laws’ family is a doctors’ family from Narasaraopet and has extensive connections in Darsi, Addanki and Martur.With announcement of TDP ticket to Dr Lakshmi, the Gottipati family is contesting in two neighbouring Assembly constituencies in the erstwhile Prakasam district.