KURNOOL: Telugu Desam Party (TDP) Nandyal MLA Bhuma Nagi Reddy passed away on Sunday morning after suffering a cardiac arrest at his residence in Nandyal. He was rushed to a private Hospital for treatment where he was kept on a ventilator before he breathed his last. The Nandyal MLA was spending Sunday with his family members in Allagadda and was scheduled to meet party activists in the afternoon.
Nagi Reddy reportedly collapsed at his residence at around 8.30 am and was rushed to a nearby hospital. His daughter and Allagadda MLA Bhuma Akhila Priya left for Ahobhilam to participate in the temple brahmotsavams. Later, he was shifted to Suraksha Hospital in Nandyal where he was kept on a ventilator. Nagi Reddy has suffered two cardiac arrests previously.
Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu expressed shock over Nagi Reddy’s death and called him a dear friend whose family was a part of the TDP family. He extended condolences to the family members and is expected to visit them. Naidu, who asked officials to keep him updated with Reddy’s condition, had also asked for a helicopter to be arranged to fly Nagi Reddy to Hyderabad for better treatment.
On hearing about the incident, followers of the Bhuma family thronged Nandyal hospital, and a large number of police personnel have been deployed to control the influx of crowds gathering to get a last glimpse of the minister. There was a brief moment of tension, which was soon brought under control, when followers made attempts to get a glimpse of Nagi Reddy who was then on a ventilator.
Nagi Reddy was first elected to the AP Assembly in 1992 following the sudden demise of his brother Bhuma Sekhar Reddy, a sitting MLA from Allagadda constituency. He won again in the 1994 Assembly polls. In 1996, he contested from Telugu Desam Party against then Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao and lost. Nagi Reddy then got elected thrice as MP on behalf of TDP in 1996 (by-elections), 1998 and 1999. However, he was defeated twice in the Assembly elections held in 2004 and 2009. The Bhuma family joined Praja Rajyam Party founded by actor and politician K Chiranjeevi, but when the party was merged with the Congress, Nagi Reddy along with his wife Shobha Nagi Reddy joined YSR Congress party.
The couple won the 2014 elections but Shobha died in a road accident before the results were announced. In the bypolls, their daughter Akhila Priya contested in place of her mother from Allagadda constituency. However, the Bhuma family shifted loyalties to Telugu Desam party in February 2016, and Nagi Reddy was rumoured to be among the frontrunners for the ministerial berth in the Andhra Pradesh Cabinet in the next expansion.