Balineni, Magunta eye Congress

Ongole : The clash of egos of YSRCP high command and its prominent leader from the Prakasam district Balineni Srinivasa Reddy made the political situation in the district uncertain and volatile. The rift that arose over the candidature of Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy for the Lok Sabha constituency appears to cost the YSRCP dearly as both sides harden their stance.

Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy and Balineni Srinivasa Reddy, once leaders of the Congress Party, are sitting MP and MLA of the Ongole constituency from the YSR Congress Party. Balineni has a good following and command over Ongole, Markapuram, Giddalur and other constituencies in the Ongole parliament constituency. Magunta also has followers, but he is highly capable of turning the tables in his favour by all means if he wants.

There developed a gap between Balineni Srinivasa Reddy and his party high command after he was asked to resign from the Cabinet during April 2022 reshuffle. The arrest of Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy’s son Raghava Reddy in the Delhi liquor scam and the later developments distanced the party from his family. Since then, Balineni and Magunta appeared together many times and even announced themselves to be contesting together for the MLA and MP seats. However, their party decided otherwise and denied the ticket to Magunta.

Since then, Balineni tried to convince Jagan Mohan Reddy and others in favour of Magunta but failed. To appease Balineni, the YSRCP agreed to his other demand of releasing funds for the purchase and distribution of private land, as housing sites for the poor. When everyone thought that Balineni was contesting as the Ongole MLA and was okay with the party fielding another leader for Lok Sabha, he went to Magunta’s camp office for a luncheon meeting, just on the same day as AP Congress president Sharmila Reddy’s tour in Ongole.

Later, he put forth the demand of giving the Lok Sabha ticket to his son, Praneeth Reddy. The party rejected that request too, and appointed Chevireddy Bhaskar Reddy as the party in-charge for Ongole and Nellore districts and informed him that he would be the Ongole MP candidate.

Meanwhile, the Congress has intensified efforts to reach its former leaders to bring them back home. On the day the APCC president conducted the meeting in Ongole, an AICC secretary met Mangunta in his office in Ongole. He formally extended the invitation to rejoin the party, but Magunta said that he was making other arrangements.

But the Congress leaders continue to persuade him to be with them for the long future. On the other hand, the sources in Andhra Ratna Bhavan reveal that some members of the Balineni family are said to have been in touch with Sharmila Reddy.

The sources say that Sharmila is going to Delhi as per the prescheduled programmes, along with the DCC presidents, PCC office-bearers and presidents of other wings to demand the Union government to fulfil the promises made in the AP Reorganisation Act.

She will meet Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi during the trip, and discuss the joining of the Balineni and Magunta along with their demands. Sharmila will be conducting public meetings starting from the first week of February from Anantapur and the joining of leaders may be announced in those meetings.