Panyam to see fierce fight among Reddy candidates

Panyam (Nandyal district) : Like always Panyam constituency is going to witness a fierce fight among the Reddy families in 2024 general election. The fight will be between the six-time MLA, Katasani Rambhupal Reddy, and one-time MLA Gowru Charitha Reddy. Katasani is likely to contest on YSRCP ticket while Gowru Charitha Reddy will enter the electoral fray as TDP candidate.

Panyam is the only constituency that shares two districts - Kurnool and Nandyal. The constituency has four mandals - Orvakal, Panyam, Gadivemula and Kallur. Gadivemula and Panyam comes under Nandyal district, while Orvakal and Kallur comes under Kurnool district. Panyam constituency has a total voter strength of 3,08,035, including 1,50,895 males, 1,57,064 female and 76 third gender.

According to sources, Katasani Rambhupal Reddy is one of the strongest and most influential leaders in Panyam. He represented the constituency six times - 1985, 1989, 1994, 2004, 2009 and 2019. He contested as Congress candidate for five times and once on YSRCP ticket in 2019.

The political grapevine is abuzz with speculations that YSRCP is looking for a strong candidate for Nandyal MP seat. Hence the party high command may ask Katasani to contest for Lok Sabha and field Byreddy Siddharth Reddy, the present SAP chairman, from Panyam Assembly constituency.

Katasani, presently district party president, may not agree to contest for Lok Sabha. It was learnt that he even told the YSRCP high command some time ago that in case the party does not want to give ticket to him, it should consider his son Shiva Narasimha Reddy. But this proposal did not get a positive nod from the party chief on the grounds that his son was a political novice.

On the other hand, Telugu Desam Party is reportedly almost decided the name of Gowru Charitha Reddy as its candidate from Panyam constituency. It’s also said that Byreddy Rajasekhar Reddy has put up a proposal before the TDP. His proposal is three seats - one MP and two MLAs, that is Panyam MLA ticket to his daughter Byreddy Shabari, Nandikotkur to one of his followers and MP seat to himself, either Nandyal or Kurnool. TDP chief is yet to take a decision on this proposal.

Byreddy Rajasekhar Reddy is such a leader, who can give the toughest fight to Katasani Rambhupal Reddy compared to Gowru Charitha Reddy. Presently, Rajasekhar Reddy and his daughter are with the BJP.