Brahmanaiah stood by commoners, farmers

D Gopi

Vijayawada: The Telugu Desam Party has lost a tall leader in the death of Ambati Brahmanaiah, the sitting MLA from Avanigadda. Brahmanaiah was born in a small village Vakkapatlavaripalem in Nagayalanka mandal in Krishna district. He started his political career as a youth Congress leader and was a supporter of Mandali Venkata Krishna Rao in Diviseema area. In early 1970s, he was elected to the village panchayat and later became its sarpanch. In late 1970s, he was elected as the Samithi president in Diviseema.

In the 1977 Lok Nayak Jayaprakash Narayana's movement, he joined the Janata Party and later switched over to the Lok Dal. During that period, he came in close contact with local advocate Simhadri Satyanarayana and subsequently joined the Telugu Desam Party in 1983. Since then, he had been with the TDP and played an important role in the party affairs in the district.

Even as he was the MLA from Machilipatnam, Brahmanaiah took time off to do MA from Osmania University during 1995-97. Though he got the party ticket in 1994 for the Avanigadda Assembly seat, the party leadership shifted him to Machilipatnam following resistance from his rivals led by Saikam Arjuna Rao.

However, he won the Machilipatnam Assembly seat, defeating the sitting Congress MLA Perni Krishna Murthy by a margin of 16,278 votes. During the August 1995 coup by Chandrababu Naidu, he took the side of NTR and stayed with him along with Devineni Rajasekhar Nehru. He contested on the NTR Telugu Desam ticket in the 1996 Lok Sabha elections from Tenali Parliament seat, but lost by 36,488 votes in the triangular contest in which Telugu Desam's film actress Tadiparthi Sarada won the seat.

As Devineni Nehru joined the Congress after the routing of the NTR Telugu Desam in the 1996 elections, Brahmanaiah returned to the Telugu Desam and continued with it till his death. In the 1999 elections, he contested on the TDP ticket from the Machilipatnam Lok Sabha constituency and defeated the Congress party's Kavuri Sambasiva Rao by a margin of 82,996 votes.

However, in the 2004 elections, he was defeated by business tycoon Badiga Ramakrishna of Congress by a margin of 50,341 votes. In the 2009 elections, luck favoured him in his home Assembly constituency, Avanigadda, where he defeated the sitting Congress MLA Mandali Buddha Prasad by a margin of 417 votes. He was the general secretary of the party in Krishna district in 1994 and became its president in 2004.

Clad in typical Andhra dhoti, he was close to the farming community in the district. In every meeting held at the district-level, he would confront officials on issues concerning farmers, particularly of those hailing from the Diviseema region. He was also closely associated with the farmers' associations in the district cutting across party lines.

TDP expresses shock over party MLA's death

Hyderabad: TDP expressed shock over the sudden demise of the party senior leader and Avanigadda MLA A Brahmaniah. Party senior leaders N Harikrishna, Balakrishna, N Nageshwara Rao and YS Chowdhary on Sunday, condoled the death of the leader and expressed deep sympathies to the bereaved family.

In a press release, party senior leader K Rammohan Rao said that the untimely death of Brahmaniah was a big loss to the party and also people in Krishna district. He said that the departed leader served the party in different capacities and served the society till his last breath.

Ambati was a great parliamentarian: Speaker

Hyderabad: Speaker of the State Legislative Assembly Nadendla Manohar, on Sunday, condoled the passing away of Ambati Brahamanaiah, member of Legislative Assembly from Avanigadda Assembly Constituency in Krishna District. In his condolence, he described Ambati as a great parliamentarian. He served as an MLA for two terms and was a member of Lok Sabha from Machilipatnam parliamentary constituency.

Nadendla remarked that Ambati always maintained dignity, decency and decorum of the Legislative bodies. He also recollected the valuable services of Ambati as a member of the various Legislative Committees like House Committee on Prawn Culture, Welfare of Backward Classes, Ethics Committee, etc.

Ambati actively participated in the House debates and was also the champion of the causes of the farming community, he added.

Babu breaks yatra to pay homage to Ambati

Visakhapatnam: Telugu Desam president N Chandrababu Naidu left for Avanigadda in Krishna district on Sunday to pay homage to party's veteran leader Ambati Brahmanaiah who died in his native village of Vakkapatlavaripalem in Nagayyalanka mandal

. He flew to Vijayawada and from there he went to Nagayalanka via Avanigadda. He was carrying out his padayatra in Tallapalem when the death news broke out. He said Ambati was a great leader and stood with the party during difficult times. His death was a great loss to the party, he said. The TDP chief will return to Anakapalle on Monday and resume his padayatra