Billionaires Dominate AP Polls, but Money Doesn’t Guarantee a Win
Tirupati: The results of the hard-fought Andhra Pradesh Assembly elections were announced on Tuesday, with several incredibly wealthy politicians scoring victory while some multi-millionaires faced defeat.
The richest candidate in the fray was Telugu Desam president Nara Chandrababu Naidu from Kuppam, with a net worth of over Rs 931 crore. He won against YSRC candidate K.R.J. Bharath with a majority of over 48,184.
Naidu’s son Nara Lokesh, who registered his inaugural electoral win in Mangalagiri and is inheritor of over Rs 542 crore assets, is touted as the future face of the party.
Among the biggest winners were YSRC chief Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy from Pulivendula (assets at over Rs 757 crore) who won the seat by a margin of 61,687 votes, and TD's Vemireddy Prashanthi Reddy from Kovur (assets at over Rs 716 crore) who won by over 53,000 votes margin.
Other super-rich politicians scoring massive victories included Narayana Ponguru (TD) from Nellore City, who has assets of Rs 824.07 crore), Nandamuri Balakrishna (TD) from Hindupur, with assets of Rs 482 crore), R. Madhavi (TD) from Kadapa, with assets of Rs 388 crore), and V. Munaswamy Thomas (TD) Gangadhara Nellore, with assets of Rs 305.76 crore.
However, money was no guarantee to a success. Rich candidates like YSRC's Mullapudi Veera Venkata Satyanarayana from Visakhapatnam East (assets at Rs 421 crore) and Adala Prabhakara Reddy from Nellore Rural (assets at Rs 312 crore) were defeated.
Other super-rich candidates from the YSRC, who tasted defeat, were Ramireddy Pratap Kumar Reddy (Kavali), who has assets Rs 236.98 crore, Vikram Reddy Mekapati (Atmakur), with assets of Rs 209.25 crore and Butta Renuka (Yemmiganur) with assets of Rs 161.21 crore.
Wealthy winners with assets over Rs 200 crore included Yeluri Sambasiva Rao (TD) in Paruchur, who has assets ofRs 295.80 crore), Jana Sena's Lokam Naga Madhavi from Nellimarla (assets over Rs 291 crore), V. Ramu (TDP, Gudivada, assets Rs 284.36 crore, TG Bharath (TDP, Kurnool) with assets of Rs 278.27 crore, Yarlagadda Venkata Rao (TD, Gannavaram) with assets of260 crore, who defeated YSRC’s Vallabhaneni Vamsi and has assets of Rs 198 crore, Peddireddy Ramachandra Reddy (YSRC, Punganur) with assets of Rs 235.40 crore and Kanumuru Raghu Rama Krishna Raju (TD, Undi) with assets of Rs 218.77 crore.
Other winning crorepati candidates were Amilineni Surendra Babu (TD, Kalyandurg) with assets of Rs 189.35 crore, Vasantha Venkata Krishna Prasad (TD, Mylavaram) with assets of Rs 188.88 crore) and JC Ashmit Reddy (TD, Tadipatri) with assets of 182.13 crore, Gonuguntla Venkata Siva Sita Rama Anjaneyulu (TD, Vinukonda) with assets of Rs 170.06 crore, and Konidala Pawan Kalyan (Jana Sena chief, Pithapuram) with assets of Rs 164.54 crore.
In the Lok Sabha elections, the wealthiest candidate was Dr Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani from the TD, who contested from Guntur, with a whopping net worth of Rs 5705.47 crore. He secured an impressive victory.
Prabhakar Reddy Vemireddy from TD in Nellore (assets Rs 716 crore) and CM Ramesh from BJP in Anakapalli (assets Rs 497 crore) were the other super-rich candidates who won polls.
However, money power did not help YS Sharmila Reddy, the state Congress chief, in Kadapa. Despite having assets of Rs 181.81 crore, she was defeated by her cousin YS Avinash Reddy of the YSRC.
Chalamalasetty Sunil of the YSRC in Kakinada (assets Rs 149.99 crore) lost to T Uday Srinivas of the Jana Sena, who has assets Rs 31.15 crore.
In Rajampet, former united Andhra CM Nallari Kiran Kumar Reddy of the BJP (assets Rs 95.33 crore) lost to YSRC's P.V. Midhun Reddy, who has assets of ‘146.85 crore.
Sribharat Mathukumalli (TD, Visakhapatnam) with assets of Rs 298.95 crore secured a massive win in the LS polls, while Simhadri Chandra Sekhar Rao of the YSRC in Machilipatnam (assets of Rs 138.45 crore) was defeated by Jana Sena's Balashowry Vallabhaneni, who has assets of Rs 133.72 crore.
