NALGONDA: After facing defeat in three elections over 10 years, Telangana Rashtra Samithi candidate Tera Chinnapa Reddy finally registered a victory in the bypolls to Nalgonda local authorities constituency (LAC) in the Legislative Council. He beat Congress candidate Komatireddy Laxmi by 226 votes.
An industrialist, Chinnapa Reddy’s political career began in the TDP, which he joined after being invited by party chief N Chandrababu Naidu. He was given the Nagarjunasagar Assembly ticket in 2009, but was defeated by Congress’ K Jana Reddy. In 2014, he was the TDP candidate from Nalgonda Lok Sabha seat, only to face failure yet again. In 2015, now with TRS, he was the MLC candidate for the Nalgonda LAC, but he was once again defeated, this time by Congress heavyweight Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy. TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao, however, chose to give Chinnapa Reddy the ticket once again. And this, time he was not disappointed.
In fact, Laxmi, who Chinnapa Reddy has defeated this time, is the wife of Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy. The defeat comes as a setback to Rajagopal Reddy, who wanted the seat to remain in the Komatireddy family.The byelection had, in fact, been necessitated due to Rajagopal Reddy’s resignation after he was elected MLA from Munugode in December 2018.