TDP may field Subba Reddy in Dhone

Dhone (Nandyal district): Dhone constituency was the bastion of Kotla and KE Krishnamurty from 1972 to 2014 when Buggana Rajendranath Reddy won on behalf of YSRCP.

KE Krishnamurthy, the former deputy chief minister, was MLA for five times (1978, 1983, 1985, 1989 and 2009). His brother K E Prabhakar became MLA in 1999. While Kotla Vijaya Bhaskar Reddy became MLA once in 1994, his daughter-in-law Kotla Sujathamma was elected in 2004.

Rajendranath Reddy was elected for two consecutive times, 2014 and 2019. Kotla family contested on Congress ticket while KE family from TDP. Both families have maintained bitter rivalry.

In due course of time, the two leaders joined hands in the presence of N Chandrababu Naidu and worked for the betterment of the party. Though both are working for the same party, they are eyeing Dhone ticket.

But it appears that the TDP is more inclined towards the constituency in-charge Dharmavaram Subba Reddy. In the past, Naidu had also indicated that Subba Reddy would be the candidate. This has upset the KE family who have distanced itself from TDP.

As constituency in-charge, Subba Reddy has developed strong cadre in almost all mandals in the constituency. In fact, Subba Reddy is the follower of Kotla family. On the other hand, Kotla Surya Prakash Reddy has asked for three seats. He wanted Alur seat for his wife and Yemmignur or Dhone for his son and MP ticket for himself. The TDP this time is strictly following the formula of one family one ticket.

As far as KE family is concerned, Krishnamurthy’s brother Prabhakar is also seeking Dhone ticket. But if Shyam Babu, son of KE Krishnamurthy, is given Pathikonda ticket then Prabhakar would lose the chance.

For YSRCP, it is only Buggana Rajendranath Reddy who is the one and only option hence his name is said to have been finalised. It is being said that Rajendranath wants his son Arjun Reddy to make his political debut. If YSRCP agrees for this, then Rajendranath Reddy may be given MP ticket.

According to political analysts, if the party finalised Rajendranath Reddy then Kotla is the only family that can give tough competition. Some supporters of Kotla have joined Rajendranath Reddy after he became the minister and if Kotla is given the Dhone ticket, his entire cadre would again come back to him.

On the other hand, the negative aspect is that the voters of the constituency are not happy with Rajendranath Reddy as he is not available to them when needed. But he has developed the constituency pretty well. Except for the allegations that he is not available to the constituency, he is a leader with clean image.

Dhone constituency has three mandals, Bethamcherla, Dhone and Peapuly. It has a total voter strength of 1,94,820. Of them, 97,254 are men, 98,510 are women and 56 others. The deciding communities are BCs, who include Boyas, Kurva, Yadava and Golla. Reddys form two to three per cent of electorate followed by SCs and others.