NELLORE: Mekapati Goutham Reddy was known for his decent politics and excellent communication skills. Goutham Reddy entered politics after getting YSRC ticket from Atmakur Assembly segment in 2014. In his maiden election, Mekapati beat GM Kanna Babu of the TDP by over 31,412 votes. He won from the same constituency for the second time in the 2019 elections, beating TDP’s Bollineni Krishnaiah.
In a short period, he developed a special bond with the people of the Atmakur segment, where a majority of the leaders were the followers of the Anam family. There was no turning back for Mekapati after he won his election from Atmakur.
He attracted even the followers of the Anam family to the party with his active involvement in development activities. The beginning of Somasila high-level canal, a long-pending demand of the people of upland mandals, aimed at providing irrigation water to around 90,000 acre and drinking water to 2.5 lakh people, gave hopes to the people of upland mandals in Atmakur and Udayagiri segments. Works of phase-I of the high-level canal are nearing completion.
Mekapati had already taken up the initiative to start the works of Phase-II works and discussed it with Minister for Water Resources P Anil Kumar Yadav. To resolve the issues of the public, Goutham Reddy has introduced a special grievance cell on every Monday afternoon with local village secretariat staff, MPTCs, and Sarpanches. The team used to review the development activities in their jurisdictions.
“He was a polite person and respected everyone. He was a down-to-earth person and interacted with every party leader and cadre, and directed us to strengthen the party. Goutham Reddy tried hard for the development of Atmakur town and upland mandals of the segment with his innovative ideas.
"He would never lose his patience and always had a smile on his face,” said K Venkateswarlu, a YSRC leader from Atmakur town. The YSRC leader never hesitated to raise the issues concerning the constituency with the authorities concerned. Mekapati had staged a protest in front of the new ZP hall demanding to release water to the North canal in the constituency.
“He was a soft-spoken person. I have been working as his driver since 2003. He would never get angry. He extended all possible support to his workers and the followers of the Mekapati family. I have never seen such a person who dedicated his life to serving society. Even though he had an option to earn crores of rupees through his company, he never selected the path. He decided to serve the society as a politician,” said Nageswar Rao, driver of Goutham Reddy.
The smart politician has introduced reverse osmosis purified drinking water at the doorstep to the residents of the town with an exclusive pipeline under ‘RO water direct to home’ programme, with the support of Adani Group.
With the call of the former Minister, Atmakur was given a facelift with Rs 1.5 crore CSR funds provided by Asian Paints Limited. A shopping complex is also being developed at the Atmakur bus stand for the benefit of petty traders. He has taken up the initiative of setting up of MSME park at Narampeta village. He conducted two mega job melas in Atmakur town in the last two years.