Confident after defeating the outgoing CM from the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) and the likely incoming CM from the Congress, its state chief Revanth Reddy (RR), in Telangana’s Kamareddy, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Katipally Venkata Ramana Reddy (KVR) says he is now set to win “10 seats for the party in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections”.
KVR defeated KCR, his nearest rival, by a margin of 6,741 votes. “I was in the Congress and then came to the BJP… In 2018, I had decided that I will win in 2023… They tried to win, but I succeeded. I met everyone here and solved their problems. I treated everyone as a family member…Minority votes contributed at least 35% to my win. This is a new trend in Telangana,” said the leader, who slayed not one but two giants in the polls.
Elaborating on his key focus areas, Reddy said, “Cadre strength, anti-government agitation and vote polarisation… I worked on these three things and managed to win.”
#EXCLUSIVE: BJP MLA Venkata Ramana Reddy to CNN-News18's @AnchorAnandN says, "Minority votes contributed to at least 35% in my win. This is a new trend in Telangana"#TelanganaElections2023 pic.twitter.com/t0FJ6vzVfY— News18 (@CNNnews18) December 4, 2023
“The BJP’s performance was good, but we did not get more seats. Our vote share has increased from 6.9% to 14%…I am confident of winning 10 seats in 2024. Modi ji is very popular in Telangana,” he asserts.
The Kamareddy constituency attracted attention ever since KCR announced his decision to contest from there and the contest heated up as Revanth Reddy decided to take him on. Both KCR and Revanth Reddy had contested from other seats as well, in addition to Kamareddy, and won.
#EXCLUSIVE: BJP MLA Venkata Ramana Reddy speaks to CNN-News18's @AnchorAnandN after he defeats Revanth Reddy and KCR in #TelanganaAssemblyElection2023 Says, "I am confident of winning 10 seats in 2024." pic.twitter.com/piCXYDhGaE
— News18 (@CNNnews18) December 4, 2023
Despite his high-profile opponents, Reddy kept up the fight. KCR himself addressed a rally at Kamareddy and his son and BRS working president K T Rama Rao also campaigned for his father.
Reddy had served as Zilla Parishad Chairman of undivided Nizamabad district in the past. Kamareddy was part of the undivided Nizamabad district, but is now a separate district after the BRS government carried out a reorganisation.
He was earlier with the Congress, but joined the BJP a few years ago. Political analysts attribute Venkata Ramana Reddy’s success to his philanthropic work for temples and others and his fight against the master plan for Kamareddy town announced by the BRS government.
Reddy had spearheaded the fight against the master plan. The plan was, however, shelved following protests from farmers.
With PTI Inputs
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