Sathenna to Congress fold

Bhupalpally: Even though the Congress had a setback when its Bhupalpally MLA Gandra Venkataramana Reddy crossed over to the ruling TRS in 2019, it still holds a considerable sway over the constituency. Despite that fact, the party cadres appeared rudderless in the absence of a formidable leader, who could navigate them. However, it's totally different since A Revanth Reddy was made TPCC president. Like elsewhere in the erstwhile Warangal district, the party cadres seemed jubilant in Jayashankar-Bhupalpally district due to a change in leadership.

Against this backdrop, Congress got a shot in the arm with the senior politician Gandra Satyanarayana Rao, popularly known as Sathenna, deciding to join it. Revanth Reddy and Satyanarayana Rao have a good relationship with each other since their stint with the Telugu Desam.

Satyanarayana Rao may have lost a couple of elections closely but his popularity in Bhupalpally is not less than to anyone. He, in fact, stood second in the 2018 Assembly elections, relegating the then Speaker Sirikonda Madhusudhana Chary of the TRS to the third place. Sathenna, who hails from Buddharam village under Ghanapuram mandal, started his political career with Telugu Desam. Former Minister A Chandulal was his political guru. People regard him unlucky twice as he lost twice contesting from Bhupalpally in 2014 and 2018 but not before giving his opponents a run for their money.

Congress has been looking to Sathenna for some time, especially since Revanth became TPCC chief. Finally, Sathanna, along with his cadres, were to join the Congress on Thursday (September 29) in the presence of Revanth Reddy, CLP Leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka and Mulugu MLA Seethakka at Bhupalpally.

Speaking to The Hans India, Gandra Sathenna said, "Congress is the right platform to take on TRS and BJP."