Nellore: YSRCP’s Ramireddy faces uphill battle in Kavali

Nellore : After YSR Congress Party has re-nominated Kavali sitting MLA Ramireddy Pratap Kumar Reddy, popularly known as RPR, clinching the seat will be a litmus test for him in ensuing elections. He exudes confidence of a hattrick.

According to sources, at one stage the party though of replacing Pratap Kumar Reddy with former Kavali TDP MLA Venteru Venugopala Reddy but finally gave the ticket to Pratap Kumar.

It may be recalled that a few months ago, Venteru Venugopala Reddy joined YSRCP expecting Kavali ticket for 2024 elections in the wake of severe dissidence that was witnessed against RPR.

One month ago, Venugopala Reddy rushed to Tadepalli after receiving emergency call from CMO and met Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy and expressed his desire to contest from Kavali.

RPR has several educational institutions and was elected twice from Kavali Assembly constituency. In 2014, he won the election against his TDP rival Beedha Ravindra Yadav with a majority of 4,969 votes and he defeated TDP nominee Katam Reddy Vishnu Vardhan Reddy with a majority of 14,117 votes in 2019 elections.

But situation is entirely different now as RPR has been facing dissidence among the party cadre as well as general public. It was also alleged that he was responsible for encouraging anti-social activities, including land grabbing and other issues by the ruling party leaders.

Meanwhile, after watching the situation, TDP has selected a new candidate Kavya Krishna Reddy. Kavya Krishna Reddy, a contractor-cum-politician from Jaladanki mandal of Udaysgiri constituency, is facing the elections first time. It is said Krishna Reddy had expected Udayagiri Assembly ticket from TDP but was nominated for Kavali as Udayagiri was confirmed for one NRI Kakarla Suresh. Krishna Reddy is highly confident of victory though he is new to politics.