Except for her name, Srikala Reddy, the newly-elected chairperson of Jaunpur zilla parishad, appears a pucca Uttar Pradesh local. She has mingled easily with people during the campaign and went on to create a record of sorts in the just concluded local body polls by winning the zilla parishad as an independent.
If her marriage to former Bahujan Samaj Party MP Dhananjay Singh a few years ago turned Jaunpur the second home for this Hyderabadi socialite, her husband’s political manoeuvring helped her become the sixth women chief of the district. In the 83-member zilla parishad, she secured the support of 43 members against 28 for the BJP and 12 for the Samajwadi Party.
“No. I was never ill at ease,” she said regarding her ability to communicate with the people. People in North, particularly UP, received politicians from the South with an open heart, she said referring to the success of Jayaprada and Hema Malini.
Speaking to this newspaper from Jaunpur, Srikala Reddy narrated her journey to UP politics, her priorities and the harassment of her family by the state administration during the polls.
An accused in a murder case, Dhananjay Singh was absconding during the polls. “My husband is a mass leader and enjoys the support of people. It’s but natural for the rival party to implicate him in cases,” she said. She alleged that a party kidnapped four of her supporters but victory was ultimately hers.
“Politics runs in our family,” said Srikala Reddy whose father K. Jitender Reddy took active part in the Telangana armed struggle and was MLA from Kodad in 1969. She joined the BJP and tried for a party ticket for Huzurnagar during the 2019 bypoll. But the BJP chose another candidate. “It’s their decision and my destiny was something else,” she said.
She got married to Dhananjay Singh in 2017 in Chennai and event was attended by celebrities including Telugu film hero Allu Arjun.
