Kadapa: 80-year-old campaigns for her son

Kadapa: Redeppagari Hymavathamma, wife of former minister Rajagopala Reddy from Lakkireddypalle, shrugs off the high temperatures and her age of 80 plus as she travels from village to village to campaign for the Telugu Desam in the Rayachoti Assembly segment in Kadapa district.

She appeals to the public to cast their vote for her son Ramesh Reddy, a Telugu Desam candidate for the Rayachoti segment.

Ms Hymavathamma comes from a well-known family in Vempalle. Her father served as panchayat sarpanch of Vempalle for several years. When she married Rajagopal Reddy, who was a building contractor then, her world was confined to her children and family — she has two sons, Mr Reddy Ramesh, who is the TD candidate, and Mr Srinivas Reddy, who is district president of Kadapa, and a daughter married to an IPS officer.

Ms Hymavathamma recalls that her husband entered politics in 1962 and contested the Lakkireddypalle Assembly seat. He was defeated by just 350 votes against Viswanatha Reddy. He won the next election and went on to win five more times. He was made a minister in the P.V. Narasimha Rao and N.T. Rama Rao Cabinets. “When he was in politics, I did no electioneering,” she said. “I wanted both my sons to be IAS officers, but the elder, Ramesh, went into politics and contested and won in the 1999 Assembly elections.”

After that Mr Ramesh Reddy was defeated three times. “I am 80 plus years old. I must see my son’s victory before breathing my last breath,” she tells voters.

That determination has pushed her to visit all the villages in the constituency in the past one week. Since her husband had a very good reputation in rural areas of Rayachoti constituency, she is well received and people have promised to vote for her son.  

When she entered a village in Ramapuram mandal, people gathered around and advised her not to visit surrounding villages in this heat but she just smiled and said, “I never spare myself because of the temperature. I must visit the houses and urge people to vote for my son. It is very necessary for me.”

This correspondent met the star campaigner for the TD in Rayachoti at Ramapuram village on Monday afternoon. She was confident of victory. “Wherever I went I got a very good response. I am very confident that my Ramesh will win this election,” says the doughty campaigner.

An interesting nugget of information about Ms Hymavathamma is that she gets a pension of Rs 25,000 every month but spends none of the money on herself. The whole amount is distributed to needy persons who approach her.