Know your MLA: Ravi Kumar, a brand builder for Gottipati family in Addanki

Addanki : The Gottipati family has a legacy of leadership in the northern part of the Prakasam district. Gottipati Ravi Kumar, fondly known to locals as Bujji, has built a brand name for it by representing the Addanki people four times continuously.

There used to be a political rivalry between Karanam, Bachina and Gottipati families in the Addanki region and it was more visible in the elections of the defunct Martur and Addanki Assembly constituencies. During the delimitation of constituencies in 2008, the Martur Assembly constituency was divided and its area was merged into the Parchur, Addanki and Darsi Assembly constituencies. This delimitation made the influenced areas of Karanam Balarama Krishnamurthy and Gottipati families also split into Parchuru, Darsi and Addanki constituencies.

The political history of the family started with Gottipati Hanumantha Rao. He was elected as MLA from Martur two times in 1983 and 1994 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 byelection held in 1997 and won in 1999. He was defeated by his uncle Seshagiri Rao’s son Gottipati Ravi Kumar in 2004 at Martur.

Ravi Kumar joined YSR Congress Party with many people from the Congress Party, just before winning in the 2009 elections from Addanki. He switched his loyalty to TDP, after winning on the YSRCP ticket in 2014. Ravi Kumar is the only candidate, who managed to win in 2019 elections out of the 23 YSRCP MLAs who defected to TDP after the 2014 elections.

After YSRCP formed the government in the state in 2019, Ravi Kumar was targeted by the YSRCP government resulting huge losses in his businesses, including the granite industries. Many granite businessmen of TDP joined YSRCP to protect their industries from shutdowns and raids of government agencies, but Ravi Kumar stood firm with TDP.

Ravi Kumar’s loyalty to TDP and the suffering from the YSRCP made Gottipati a public brand. Being an undefeated MLA since 2004, and representing Addanki four times since 2009, Ravi Kumar has been selected as a minister in Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu’s Cabinet in 2024. Ever since he was appointed the minister, he has been more actively involved in addressing issues of the public and building a fan base for the ‘Gottipati’ brand all over the state.