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Richest and poorest battle for same seat in Telangana

This is a classic case of contrast between two candidates coming from either ends of the rich-poor spectrum in electoral politics.

While Konda Vishweshwar Reddy, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) candidate from Chevella Lok Sabha constituency, may not have any hassles meeting the campaign expenditure with assets worth about Rs5.3 billion, K. Narayana, an undergraduate hailing from a poor family has sought a bank loan to contest the elections and to meet the expenses involved!

Vishweshar Reddy, in his affidavit filed before the Election Commission (EC), declared that his family has assets worth about Rs5.3 billion including cash, gold ornaments, shares in various business establishments and immovable property. He may well turn out to be the richest politician in the new state of Telangana which comes into existence on June 2.

Strangely, the affidavit states that none of his family members own a personal car.

Narayana, on the other hand, in a letter to the Chief Electoral Officer, sought waiver of the deposit amount mandatory for candidates contesting elections. He then walked into a bank and urged the officials to extend him a loan of Rs1 million to fund his campaign expenditure.

A resident of Srinivasa Nagar colony in the city, Narayana wants to contest as an independent candidate from the Amberpet Assembly constituency. What he lacks in terms of monetary backing to contest elections is made up with his zeal to ‘serve’ the people.

Stating that he hails from a poor family, Narayana claims that he has been involved in social service for the past 14 years. “My father is a daily-wage worker. One of my brothers is an electrician and the other a cab driver. I can’t afford to pay the deposit of Rs5,000, and hence, I asked the CEO to waive the deposit of all SC and ST candidates in the country since they too are in similar position like me,” Narayana said.

The CEO has expressed helplessness on the deposit waiver issue stating that it was a policy decision, but said his representation would be sent to the Election Commission for its views.

Coming back to Vishweshwar Reddy, he is the son of K. Madhava Reddy, former chief justice of the Andhra Pradesh High Court, and grandson of freedom fighter and Telangana leader K.V. Ranga Reddy. Incidentally, Ranga Reddy district adjoining the capital has been named after his grandfather.

Vishweshwar Reddy is married to Sangeetha Reddy, managing director of Apollo Hospitals and daughter of the hospital founder C. Pratap Reddy. The couple has three sons who also hold major assets.

In his affidavit, Vishweshwar Reddy said that while a major part of his assets comprise shares in Apollo Hospitals, his family also held shares running into several millions in other companies including Andhra Petro, Andhra Sugars, Citadel Research and Solutions, Stephan Design and Engineering, Health Care (India) Ltd, Dr Reddy’s Labs, KAR Motors Ltd, KAR Auto Pvt Ltd, Citadel Agro Pvt Ltd, Adventure Trails India Pvt Ltd, etc.

The TRS candidate also has 50 acres of agriculture land, residence and commercial buildings in the upmarket Banjara Hills. His wife has gold and diamond ornaments worth Rs30 million. He has loans from various banks and financial institutions worth Rs8.6 million.

— news@khaleejtimes.com

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