Telangana Election Results: Chandrababu Naidu's own niece trailing in her constituency
She hails from one of the most prominent families of Telugu politics.
Her grandfather — Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao — is the man who started the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) driven by “Telugu Pride”.
Her father — Nandamuri Harikrishna — was a cine idol-turned-politician who drove his father’s political Chaitanya Ratham almost non-stop for eight months, eventually led the coup that overthrew his father and TDP founder-president, and made N Chandrababu Naidu — his sister’s husband — president of the TDP, himself being considered Naidu’s right-hand man.
She is thus Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu’s niece.
She is Nandamuri Venkata Suhasini — now the defeated TDP candidate from Kukatpally.
The 43-year-old law graduate is a first-time politician and was given the TDP ticket to contest as part of the Mahakutami alliance from Kukatpally. It has been a wide accusation against Chandrababu Naidu that he wants to make Suhasini a scapegoat and gave her the losing ticket of Kukatpally. In fact, K Taraka Rama Rao went to extent of alleging that if Chandrababu Naidu really cared for the Nandamuri family, he should have appointed Suhasini as a minister in Andhra Pradesh, like he appointed his son, Nara Lokesh.
“Would he (Naidu) have made Lokesh contest from Kukatpally? He did not, because he knows that Kukatpally is a losing seat. Naidu wants to make Suhasini a scapegoat and later wants to restrict her brothers (Jr NTR and Nandamuri Kalyan Ram) from entering into politics,” KTR reportedly alleged.
Whether it was a campaigning strategy or an astute observation, KTR’s words stand true today as Suhasini is trailing by a margin of over 27,000 votes in her constituency with her rival, Madhavaram Krishna Rao of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi leading with over 48,000 votes. Interestingly, M Krishna Rao was a former TDP MLA who had defected to the ruling TRS after being elected on the TDP ticket in the 2014 polls.
Besides N Chandrababu Naidu, several top TDP leaders and film stars (including her younger brother Jr NTR — the superstar of Telugu cinema today) had campaigned for Suhasini. Clearly, star-power did not raise her electoral quotient.
For Chandrababu Naidu, this defeat comes as a double-whammy as he was keen to win this seat and “teach a fitting lesson to Krishna Rao for his betrayal”.
Ironically, the constituency comprises of a large population of migrants from Rayalaseema and Coastal Andhra regions of Andhra Pradesh — a loyal base of Chandrababu Naidu.
Also read: How KCR is betting on sop-saturation strategy to take on the 'Praja Kutami'
Also read: Assembly Polls 2018: India deserves more than empty promises from its politicians