Varupula Raja’s wife Satya Prabha to be TD incharge for Prathipadu

Kakinada: With the demise of Telugu Desam leader Varupula Jogiraju Raja three days ago, the Telugu Desam would appoint his wife as in-charge of Prathipadu assembly constituency in Kakinada district. She is also likely to be the party nominee for the 2024 assembly polls.

Raja had contested the 2019 elections from the constituency as the Telugu Desam nominee but was defeated by YSRC candidate Parvatha Purnachandra Prasad. Later, Raja faced several cases of economic offences like irregularities in the Uttarakanchi Society as also in the district cooperative central bank (DCCB). Investigations into these cases are under way.

Raja died of a heart attack when expectations were high that he would re-run in the constituency in the 2024 polls.

Telugu Desam reviewed its plans for the constituency and decided to field Raja’s wife Satya Prabha as its candidate, with a view to cashing in on the sympathy factor in view of Raja’s death. “Telugu Desam chief Chandrababu Naidu has sounded me out about Satya Prabha’s candidature. An announcement will be made by the party on March 16, when Raja’s condolence meeting will be held,’’ said TD Kakinada district president Jyothula Naveen. He told the media at Prathipadu on Wednesday the demise of Varupula Raja was unfortunate.

Notably, in the 1999 elections, when Prathipadu MLA Parvatha Subba Rao died, the TD high command gave the ticket to Subba Rao’s wife Parvatha Bapanamma. Later, in the 2009 elections, the party ticket went to Parvatha family member Satyanarayana Murthy (Chittibabu). After the demise of Chittibabu, the political clout returned to the Varupula's family.

In Prathipadu, the Parvatha, Varupula and Mudragada families represented the constituency, by turn, in recent decades.