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Kadapa: At first sight Palem Srikanth Reddy seems like an absolute mismatch in the faction-ridden land of Kadapa where deadly bombs, firearms, detonators and sickles rule the roost. Sitting in his makeshift office at his Erramukkapalli home in Kadapa town a day after winding up his campaigning, the TDP Kadapa Lok Sabha candidate is livid.
“More than the battle against Jaganmohan Reddy, my fight is against the system, lawlessness, factionalism, rampant corruption and murder of democracy in Kadapa,” Srikanth declares. “These local Congress goons will unleash money power on the polling day and rig 70,000 votes in areas like Lingala, Thondur and Pulivendula,” he adds.
Srikanth, who has returned after a successful stint abroad as an IT entrepreneur, minces no words when it comes to the corrupt polity in the state. “There is a serious lack of benchmarking as far as public representatives are concerned. This must change and this will happen only when people begin to question the system,” he says.
But why did he plunge into politics in the first place? “I want to awaken the people through my own brand of politics. My appeal to the people is ‘don’t sell your vote.’ I told the people to demand Rs 2,000 for each vote from Congress but vote for TDP as we are going to provide them services worth crores of rupees,” he avers.
Credited with resurrecting the TDP in Y S Rajasekhara Reddy’s pocket borough in the last one year, Srikanth says TDP cadres have begun to believe in themselves and move around the villages in Pulivendula holding party flags — which was a no-no till some time ago.
Hailing from a family of jurists — father Chennakesava Reddy was AP High Court chief justice and sister Dakshayani Reddy is a government pleader in Madras HC, Srikanth believes unless muscle power is curbed the situation will not improve. “What’s happening in Afghanistan and Pakistan will soon hit the Kadapa shores. This anarchy must end.”
Even if the odds are stacked against him, the 46-year-old CMD of Foursoft Ltd. (which has operations in 10 countries) is unfazed by the verdict. “I know I can win if only polls are conducted fairly,” he says.
Debunking Jagan’s claims that YSR government has brought Rs 11,000 crore worth investments to the district, he says: “But there’s no visible change in people’s lives. What development is he talking about?”
“All these Mekapatis, Lagadapatis, Jagans, Maguntas and Adikeshavulus have made enough riches and used Congress as a platform to further their business interests. How will they know the people’s pulse if their sole aim is to rake in more moolah,” he asks.
Even many Congress admirers admit privately that with the ground realities having changed so much, no one can be certain about the way the Jagan-Srikanth match in the plains of Kadapa will turn out.
