Foxy politico Rayapati Sambasiva Rao has demanded two seats for his family in the 2024 assembly elections. Though he himself might not contest due to advancing age and financial problems, he is said to be asking seats for his son Rangababu and his brother Gopalakrishna’s daughter Dr Sailaja. It is still three years to the next assembly elections, but he is said to be moving his pawns to secure two seats for his family.
That Rayapati is trying to push the case of his son is too well-known. In the 2019 elections too, he has lobbied hard for Sattenapalli Assembly seat. However, the then speaker Kodela Sivaprasad had put his foot down and contested from the constituency. But this time around, Kodela’s demise has left a vacuum in the constituency. For the past two years, there is no incharge for Sattenapalli assembly constituency. Though Kodela’s son Sivaramakrishna has been demanding that he be made the constituency incharge, the TDP boss is not amenable to the idea. Also, there is strident opposition to Sivaramakrishna’s demand from within the TDP cadre. Taking advantage of this, Rayapati put forth his demand.
But, why is he demanding two seats? Sources say that Rayapati feels that if he demands two seats, he will get at least one seat. The fact is in Guntur district, except the Sattenapalli seat, all other seats have party incharges. So, who will vacate his seat and allow Sailaja to contest. Sources say, Rayapati’s target is to get a party ticket for Rangaraju and not for Sailaja. So let us wait and watch how things take shape in Guntur politics.