Nellore : The candidature of Anam Ramanarayana Reddy from Atmakuru Assembly constituency is said to have been finalised by TDP, according to party sources. The party may announce his name officially in the second list in the next few days. Sources say that this could be a litmus test for the senior leader as the going is not so smooth if the survey reports are to be believed.
It may be recalled that Anam had approached TDP national president N Chandrababu Naidu and urged him to give him Venkatagiri ticket instead of Atmakuru but his request could not be accepted as the party had decided on the name of Kurukonda Ramakrishna in the ensuing elections.
Earlier, Ramanarayana Reddy proposed his daughter K Kaivalya Reddy for Atmakuru seat during the padayatra of TDP national secretary Nara Lokesh in October. But that did not materialise.
Ramanarayana Reddy had contested from Atmakuru constituency on Congress ticket and was defeated by former Atmakuru TDP MLA Kommi Lakshmaiah with a majority of 18,664 votes in 2009 election.
Again he contested in 2014 as Congress candidate and lost to YSRCP nominee late Mekapati Goutham Reddy.
After he was defeated in Atmakuru constituency in 2014 elections Anam Ramanarayana Reddy distanced himself from Atmakuru constituency. Hence, he has been reluctant to contest from Atmakuru this time.
“Now he will have to do lot of ground work to win the seat. Victory will not be so easy for him. But then since he feels that this would be his last election, he has no option but to put in all his efforts to win the seat,” said a party leader.
After he was defeated in 2014 elections, Ramanarayana Reddy joined YSRCP and in 2019 elections, won from Venkatagri constituency by defeating TDP candidate Kurukonda Ramakrishna with a huge majority of 38,780 votes.
After formation of TDP in 1983, the party had won the election thrice. Anam Venkata Reddy won in1983, Kommi Lakshmaiah Naidu won in 1994 and 2004).
Those who lost the elections were Kommi Lakshmaiah Naidu (1999), Guturu Kannababu (2014) and Bollineni Krishnaiah (2019). This is the first time Anam Ramanarayana Reddy is going to. contest elections on TDP ticket from Atmakuru constituency.
