Who is Telangana BJP’s ‘double giant killer’ Katipally Venkata Ramana Reddy

BJP IT department head Amit Malviya took to X to congratulate Ramana Reddy. “Meet BJP’s Katipally Venkata Ramana, the giant slayer of these elections, who defeated both sitting CM KCR and incoming (hopefully) CM Revanth Reddy, from Kamareddy in Telangana. BJP will not just win big in Lok Sabha, it will also storm to power in Telangana, next time,” he posted.

Ramana Reddy, who dedicated his victory to the people of Kamareddy, began his political journey with the Congress and was elected as a member of the Mandal Parishad Territorial Council in erstwhile Nizamabad district during the Y S Rajasekhara Reddy (YSR) government in 2004. He subsequently went on to become a Zilla Parishad Territorial Council member and eventually served as zilla parishad chairperson.

Following the death of YSR, Ramana Reddy fell out with the local Congress leadership and tacitly supported the BRS (then the TRS) in the 2014 Assembly polls.

Later, Ramana Reddy found himself in the middle of a controversy after the BRS accused him of conspiring to carry out the murder of a party worker.

Just ahead of the 2018 Assembly elections, he joined the BJP, which fielded him from the seat. That time, he emerged as a distant third after Gampa Govardhan of the BRS and Mohammad Shabbir Ali of the Congress, with a 9.5% vote share.

Post the 2018 polls, Ramana Reddy garnered a support base extensively in villages across the constituency. He is known to act on the demands of people instead of just promising and providing financial aid. For instance, he personally oversaw the construction of many community halls across the constituency.

In the election affidavit he filed, Ramana Reddy declared 11 criminal cases against him in various police stations across Kamareddy, including charges relating to rioting, public nuisance and unlawful assembly. His affidavit shows his profession as business. He also owns the biggest private school in Kamareddy.

Ramana Reddy was also at the forefront of the farmers’ fight against the Kamareddy town draft master plan, which proposed to acquire about 2,000 acres of land in eight villages adjoining the town for development projects, including an outer ring road and industrial zone. The proposal was met with widespread outrage from villagers earlier this year and ahead of the election, minister KT Rama Rao had said that the government had decided to drop the master plan. Farmers of these villages wanted the government to look for barren lands instead of their agricultural lands.

Ahead of the polls, though the battle for Kamareddy was pitched to be KCR versus Revanth, Ramana Reddy exuded confidence and said his chances of victory were very high. He told The Indian Express: “Even after the heavyweights joined the fray, I am fancying my chances of winning. I have done a lot of ground work here.”

Another factor perceived to be a reason for Ramana Reddy’s victory is the fact that he is a “local” as compared to “outsiders” like KCR and Revanth Reddy. A section of the voters, ahead of the Assembly polls, told the Indian Express that Ramana Reddy had a good chance of winning the elections as they feared a KCR or Revanth victory may necessitate a bypoll as both were contesting from other seats as well.

Kamareddy has been represented by BRS’s five-time MLA Gampa Govardhan since 2009. After winning on a Telugu Desam Party (TDP) ticket in 1994 and 2009, Govardhan grew stronger by winning the 2012, 2014 and 2018 elections as a TRS (now BRS) candidate but faced anti-incumbency.

When KCR announced his candidature for the Kamareddy segment in August, the CM cited requests from Govardhan as what led to his decision from the seat.