Senior Congress leader and former minister D L Ravindra Reddy on Wednesday said that the YSR Congress would be restricted to the single digit in the 2024 general elections. He said that the party had lost its image among the people due to heavy corruption.

Ravindra Reddy, who joined the YSR Congress and had been inactive in the party after the 2019 elections, said that Jagan Mohan Reddy was indulging in heavy corruption. “I feel ashamed of having associated with the party headed by the corrupt leader, Jagan Mohan Reddy,” the former minister said.

The former minister said that TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu and the Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan were working hard and honestly for the development of the state. He asserted that only Chandrababu Naidu would save Andhra Pradesh. He wanted both the TDP and the Jana Sena to have alliance in the next election and save the state from corrupt Jagan Mohan Reddy.

Ravindra Reddy said that he is still with the YSR Congress claiming that the party had not expelled him yet. However, he said he would not contest the next election on the YSR Congress ticket but would fight the battle on a recognised party.

However, the former minister did not reveal his plans for 2024 elections. Sources say that Ravindra Reddy is trying his luck to get the TDP ticket for the next election. However, it is to be seen if Chandrababu Naidu would consider this case or not.

Rayalaseema leader DL Ravindra Reddy’s position in current politics is really a lesson for the political leaders. Once he was a very prominent leader in Rayalaseema, but now no party is willing to give him B-form and he is most likely to contest as an independent candidate in 2019 elections.

5 times MLA and 3 times minister

DL Ravindra Reddy was originally a doctor but later joined politics. He has been in politics for the last 40 years. He was a prominent leader in Congress. He was MLA for 5 times from Mydukur Assembly segment in Kadapa district. He was a minister in Kotla Vijaya Bhaskar Reddy, Janardhan Reddy and Kiran Kumar Reddy cabinets. However, his political graph started declining ever since he contested against Jagan in 2012 by-elections. He contested against Jagan and lost deposits. Later, Congress party bifurcated the state and like many Congress leaders, he almost faded away in politics.

DL lambasts CBN’s “Use and Throw” policy:

There have been rumours about DL Ravindra Reddy joining TDP at some point of time. In fact, he met CM Chandra Babu Naidu and expressed his willingness to join TDP. As per the reports, he even got assurance from Chandra Babu Naidu on Mydukuru MLA ticket but now Chandra Babu backed away from his promise. DL Ravindra Reddy lambasted CM in his meeting with the cadre yesterday and told Chandrababu is following “Use and throw policy”. It seems Putta Sudhakar Yadav, current MLA of the same Mydukuru constituency has issues with DL Ravindra Reddy joining TDP. DL Ravindra made sharp comments on Mydukur MLA Sudhakar Yadav and told, Mydukur people are fed up with Sudhakar and he is going to lose the election in a big way in 2019.

YSRCP, Janasena and TDP – no one is willing to take me

DL Ravindra Reddy also revealed that he tried to join any of the parties – YSRCP, Janasena or TDP, but none of them showed interest to join him. He told, in his political career, he gave B-forms to many leaders but now he is struggling hard to get B-form of a party at this age. He openly admitted that he tried to join any of these parties. It seems YSRCP cadre and leadership don’t want him in their party, given his aggressive comments on Jagan when he was a minister. For TDP, they don’t want to lose Putta Sudhakar Yadav, given the fact he was one of the very few leaders who won in 2014 in Kadapa district against YRSCP. Janasena wants to encourage completely new leaders.

Overall:

With all these equations working against him, he is left with no choice other than contesting as an independent. In fact, DL’s political career is a lesson to young generation politicians, who think of themselves very high when they are in power. We will have to wait and see whether people of Mydukur will still vote for him in 2019.