Hyderabad: Katipally Venkata Ramana Reddy, a relatively obscure figure outside Kamareddy until recently, has etched his name as BJP's 'giant slayer' in Telangana even though the party lost the Assembly Elections in the southern state.
As the counting of votes concluded on Sunday, KVR Reddy defeated both the outgoing and the incoming chief ministers of Telangana winning the prestigious Kamareddy seat. This is the assembly seat from where Chief Minister and BRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) and state Congress chief A Revanth Reddy were contesting.
KVR polled 66652 votes defeating KCR by 6741 votes with Revanth Reddy in third place trailing by 11736 votes. KVR rose to prominence when the BJP nominated him to contest against KCR and Revanth.
Speaking to media, Venkata Ramana Reddy said Kamareddy got recognition as big leaders contested in the segment. "I feel that I am fortunate to win against those two (KCR and Revanth Reddy). People will vote for you even without money and liquor. I always believe that people are not corrupt, it is leaders," he said. He further said he considered both KCR and Revanth Reddy as opponents only.
-
In Jul 2022, just before the BJP’s NE in Hyderabad, each one of us was assigned an AC. I was sent to Kamareddy, where Katipally Venkata Ramana Reddy has defeated KCR and Revanth Reddy. He had been nurturing the constituency and was confident even back then. His win is special…😊 https://t.co/MbDKrp3DdG pic.twitter.com/uo3vpcmCFm
— Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) December 3, 2023 " class="align-text-top noRightClick twitterSection" data="
">In Jul 2022, just before the BJP’s NE in Hyderabad, each one of us was assigned an AC. I was sent to Kamareddy, where Katipally Venkata Ramana Reddy has defeated KCR and Revanth Reddy. He had been nurturing the constituency and was confident even back then. His win is special…😊 https://t.co/MbDKrp3DdG pic.twitter.com/uo3vpcmCFm
— Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) December 3, 2023In Jul 2022, just before the BJP’s NE in Hyderabad, each one of us was assigned an AC. I was sent to Kamareddy, where Katipally Venkata Ramana Reddy has defeated KCR and Revanth Reddy. He had been nurturing the constituency and was confident even back then. His win is special…😊 https://t.co/MbDKrp3DdG pic.twitter.com/uo3vpcmCFm
— Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) December 3, 2023
Amit Malviya, the head of the BJP IT department, expressed his congratulations on X, hailing Ramana Reddy as the "giant slayer" of the elections. Malviya predicted significant victories for the BJP in both the Lok Sabha and the future Telangana elections.
"In Jul 2022, just before the BJP’s NE in Hyderabad, each one of us was assigned an AC. I was sent to Kamareddy, where Katipally Venkata Ramana Reddy has defeated KCR and Revanth Reddy. He had been nurturing the constituency and was confident even back then. His win is special," Malviya wrote in his post.
Ramana Reddy, attributing his triumph to the people of Kamareddy, began his political journey with the Congress. He served as a member of the Mandal Parishad Territorial Council during the Y S Rajasekhara Reddy (YSR) government in 2004, later ascending to the position of Zilla Parishad Territorial Council member and eventually becoming the Zilla Parishad chairperson.
After a falling out with the local Congress leadership following YSR's death, KVR lent tacit support to the BRS (then the TRS) in the 2014 Assembly polls. Subsequently, he faced controversy when the BRS accused him of conspiring to carry out the murder of a party worker. In the lead-up to the 2018 Assembly elections, Ramana Reddy joined the BJP and contested from the seat. However, he secured a distant third position with a 9.5% vote share, trailing behind Gampa Govardhan of the BRS and Mohammad Shabbir Ali of the Congress.
Chronology of Sitting Chief Ministers' Electoral Defeats
KCR facing defeat in one of the constituencies is a relatively rare occurrence where a Chief Minister of a state lost his Assembly seat. Here is a list of the Chief Ministers who have lost elections, illustrating the dramatic shifts and reorganisations that have occurred in Indian politics.
2023 (Telangana)- In the Kamareddy constituency, BJP candidate Katipalli Venkata Ramana Reddy prevailed over KCR by a margin of more than 6700 votes.
2022 (Uttarakhand)- Bhuwan Kapri of the Congress defeats Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami by 6932 votes.
2021 (West Bengal)- Suvendu Adhikari of the BJP defeated Mamata Banerjee in Nandigram.
2019 (Jharkhand)- In the 2019 Jharkhand Assembly Elections, Rebel BJP Candidate Saryu Roy from the Jamshedpur West Constituency defeated BJP Chief Minister Raghubar das.
2018 (Mizoram)- The chief minister of Mizoram, Lal Thanhawla, lost to Lalduhoma, the candidate of the Zoram People's Movement (ZPM), in both of the assembly constituencies in which he had run. He also lost in the Champhai South constituency, which is close to the Myanmar border, to T J Lalnuntluanga, the nominee of the Mizo National Front (MNF).
2017 (Uttarakhand)- In the 2017 Uttarakhand assembly elections, Harish Rawat ran in two constituencies; he lost, one from Haridwar (rural) and one from Kichcha.
2017 (Goa)- Goa Assembly elections saw Laxmikant Parsekar lose from the Mandrem constituency to Congress candidate Dayanand Sopte
1989 (Andhra Pradesh)- Assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh saw NTR lose to INC candidate Chittaranjan Das from the Kalwakurthi Constituency
Chief Ministers who lost in bye elections:
2009 (Jharkhand)- In the Tamar Assembly by-election, Gopal Krishan Patar, also known as Raja Peter, of the Jharkhand Party, defeated the then-chief minister Shibu Soren.
1970 (Uttar Pradesh)- Tribhuvan Narayan Singh, the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, lost the by-election. He resigned immediately
Read More:
