Dynasty Watch

Politicians in Andhra Pradesh have neatly divided the election pie within the family. The seniors take the Lok Sabha tickets, the juniors...

Politicians in Andhra Pradesh have neatly divided the election pie within the family. The seniors take the Lok Sabha tickets, the juniors contest the Assembly seats. And this holds true for both the Congress and TDP.

Take former chief minister and Congress Working Committee CWC member Kotla Vijayabhaskar Reddy. He is testing his electoral fortunes again from the Kurnool Lok Sabha seat, while his son, Suryaprakash Reddy, is fighting from the Adoni Assembly segment. Suryaprakash entered active politics in 1991, when his father was a Union minister. The next year, Vijayabhaskar took over as chief minister and in an ensuing by-election to the Kurnool Lok Sabha seat in 1994, his son was elected. Come 1996 Lok Sabha elections, the father again shifted to the Lok Sabha and successfully contested from Kurnool, replacing his son.

In north coastal Andhra Pradesh, Dronamraju Srinivas, son of senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha member Dronamraju Satyanarayana, is contesting the Assembly elections from Penduthisegment in Visakhapatnam district.

Srinivas8217;s standing in the district Congress today has entirely to do with his father. A law graduate, he had started his public life about a decade ago, but in the 1994 Assembly polls from Pendurthi, had suffered a defeat.

In south Coastal Andhra, another former Congress chief minister, Nedurumalli Janardhan Reddy, is seeking re-election to the Lok Sabha from Narasaraopet in Guntur district while his wife, Rajyalakshmi, has entered the electoral battle for the first time. She is contesting Assembly polls from their native Venkatagiri segment in Nellore district.

Janardhan Reddy had himself won from Venkatagiri in 1989 but lost in 1994. Ever since, his wife has been carefully nursing the constituency. In 1996, Janardhan shifted to the Lok Sabha, winning from Bapatla in Guntur district. Now he is contesting from the adjoining Narsaraopet.

From the TDP, well-known medical practitioner Dr N. Sudhakar Rao has just entered politics consequent to the retirement of hisfather and senior leader Yethiraja Rao. The latter was elected to the Assembly a record seven times. Now, Sudhakar Rao is the TDP nominee from Yethiraja8217;s Chennur segment in Warangal district.

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In the faction-ridden Kurnool district, sitting TDP MP Bhooma Nagi Reddy is seeking re-election from Nandyal while his wife Shobha is the candidate for Allagadda. Shobha was elected to the Assembly in 1996 after her husband vacated the seat to move over to the Lok Sabha. Shobha8217;s father S.V. Subba Reddy too is a politician. A former mininster in the Chandrababu Naidu government, he is contesting from the Pattikonda constituency now.

From Chittoor, sitting MP N. Ramakrishna Reddy is facing the electoral battle again, while his son Amarnath Reddy, a member of the Assembly, is contesting from the Punganur segment.