Know Your Turncoats, Part 14: Telangana’s triangular contests, Andhra MP linked to ‘liquor scam’

As many as 20 turncoats contested the Lok Sabha polls in Telangana and 13 in Andhra Pradesh, with at least 19 of them being fielded by the BJP-led NDA – which had failed to win even a single seat in AP and won only four in Telangana in 2019. The prominent regional parties in the two states, the BRS in Telangana and the YSR Congress in Andhra, had also fielded four and five turncoats, respectively. 

The list is long, as detailed in this infographic introducing all the turncoats given tickets by major parties in the fourth phase from these two states.

In Telangana, two seats – Malkajgiri and Chevella – even witnessed triangular contests between turncoats fielded by the BJP, INDIA bloc and BRS. 

Meanwhile, in Andhra Pradesh, among the list of turncoats in the fray were Ongole sitting MP Magunta Sreenivasulu Reddy, linked to the alleged Delhi liquor scam case, and Rajya Sabha MP V Prabhakar Reddy, who joined the TDP a month after quitting the YSR Congress this year. 

Let’s take a look at some of these prominent turncoats and their seats.

Magunta Reddy: Sitting MP, son accused in Delhi liquor scam

Magunta Sreenivasulu Reddy is the TDP candidate from Ongole in Andhra Pradesh. The 70-year-old is a four-time MP, thrice from the Congress ticket and once from YSR Congress. 

Reddy, who began his political career with the INC in 1998, quit the party 16 years later to join the TDP. The switch came soon after the Bill to split Andhra was passed in the Lok Sabha in February 2014. Reddy said, “Only Chandrababu can build a golden Andhra Pradesh. The successor state very much needs the administrative acumen of Mr Naidu to build a new capital and ensure all-round development.” But this optimism didn’t last. 

Reddy lost the 2014 polls from Ongole and ahead of the next general elections sailed with the YSR Congress. He now said that he would “strengthen the hands of YSR Congress president YS Jagan Mohan Reddy”. Five years later, ahead of the ongoing polls, Reddy again jumped ship. This time ostensibly over the Enforcement Directorate proceedings against his son Raghav Reddy in the Delhi liquor scam case. His son was arrested in February last year and granted bail in October once he turned approver in the case. Subsequently, both father-son duo were mentioned by the then jailed Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in a Delhi court. The AAP also alleged that Reddy got the LS ticket for “framing” Kejriwal.  

Magunta owns Balaji Distilleries and two more companies, and has been in the liquor business for more than seven decades. His assets are worth Rs 57 crore, up from Rs 18 crore in 2014. He has a debt of over Rs 20 lakh towards his son Raghav, as per his affidavit.

Prabhakar Reddy: Industrialist, YSR Congress’s lone Rajya Sabha MP

Vemireddy Prabhakar Reddy is the TDP’s candidate from Nellore. The 68-year-old is a self-proclaimed social worker, industrialist and owner of mining infra company VPR Mining Infra. He entered politics by joining the YSR Congress in 2013 and soon vied for the party’s lone Rajya Sabha ticket. In 2016, the Jagan Mohan Reddy-led party gave the seat to Vijay Sai Reddy, leading to VP Reddy’s resignation from all party posts and speculations about his defection. 

But the industrialist stayed back with the YSR Congress and became its Rajya Sabha MP in 2018 despite “not being active” in the party. A month ahead of the 2024 polls, he quit and joined the TDP. The stage to welcome Reddy became TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu’s platform to slam Jagan Reddy.  At the huge public rally, Naidu called the CM’s behaviour “autocratic” and accused him of “hurting the self-respect” of Vemireddy and his wife who also jumped ship to the TDP.      

Naidu said the two were “forced” to leave the party,  and that the TDP will “treat you with due respect and accord you the status you deserve”. 

Notably, Reddy’s assets grew astronomically from Rs 213 crore in 2018 to Rs 716 crore as of April this year. He has six pending cases, all connected to economic offences under the Income Tax Act.   

Malkajgiri: 2 BRS turncoats, including ex-minister with 54 cases  

Etela Rajender is the BJP candidate from Malkajgiri in Telangana. The 60-year-old served as Telangana’s first finance minister and then health minister until 2021, when he jumped ship to the saffron party. The swap in allegiance came in the wake of “land grabbing” allegations and his ouster from the cabinet. A group of four farmers accused him of “grabbing” 100 acres of land and building commercial structures “without permissions”. 

Rajender, who had begun his political career as a left-wing student leader, denied the allegations, calling them a “conspiracy”. He had also been giving speeches in favour of the Modi government in the lead up to the controversy and exit from TRS. 

His total assets grew from Rs 7 crore in 2009 to over Rs 53 crore at present. As per his affidavit, he has record 54 pending criminal cases, including cases of “attempt to murder”, criminal intimidation and making false statements in connection with elections.    

The now BJP leader is in fray against Congress candidate Sunitha Mahender Reddy, who too switched from the BRS weeks ahead of the polls, and BRS candidate Ragidi Laxma Reddy, who jumped ship from the Congress last year.

The 46-year-old Sunitha Reddy began her political career as the zilla parishad chairperson of Ranga Reddy district and switched from TRS to the Congress in February this year. Her husband and veteran doctor Mahender Reddy is a four-time MLA from Tandur and continues to remain with the TRS. Reddy has no pending criminal cases and her assets stand at Rs 57 crore, up from Rs 15 crore in 2018.  

BRS candidate 60-year-old Ragidi Laxma Reddy switched parties ahead of the Telangana assembly polls last year, after Congress denied him a ticket. Before that he was in the news when his supporters got into a physical fight with the supporters of another Congress leader, Mandumula Parmeshwar Reddy, over a flex banner – exposing fissures within the party.  

Reddy has studied till Class 12 and is a businessman by occupation, as per his affidavit. His assets are worth Rs 82 crore, as of April 2024 and he has a pending case related to “causing hurt by dangerous weapons” and criminal intimidation. 

Notably, while Reddy joined the NSUI in 1985 and remained with the Congress at various positions for the next 29 years, this is his first Lok Sabha contest.  

Chevella: Multi-millionaires, one with assets worth Rs 4,568 cr  

Incumbent MP Dr Gaddam Rajith Reddy, who quit the BRS in the weeks leading to the polls, is the Congress candidate from Telangana’s Chevella – which witnessed a triangular battle among millionaire industrialists and turncoats.   

Dr Rajith Reddy, the 59-year-old businessman, whose assets boomed from Rs 163 crore to Rs 435 crore in the past five years, will be facing BJP’s Konda Vishweshwar Reddy – who has declared wealth worth Rs 4,568 crore – and the BRS’s Kasani Gnaneshwar with assets worth Rs 227 crore. While Reddy switched allegiance to the saffron party from the Congress in 2022, Kasani jumped ship from TDP to BRS last year.    

Rajith, who was widely criticised in the state for not being able to defend the BRS government after the Disha gangrape incident in 2019, had won first electoral battle in the same year from Chevella with a margin of over 14,000 votes. On quitting the KCR-led party, Rajith posted on X that he was grateful to the BRS for the “meaningful opportunity provided” and that his “difficult decision” to quit was “due to evolving political circumstances”. Hours after quitting, he joined the Congress. 

BJP’s Konda Vishweshwar Reddy, who was earlier with the BRS, switched to the Congress for a short stint and eventually joined the BJP. The 69-year-old US returnee entrepreneur's grandfather KV Ranga Reddy was the deputy CM of Andhra Pradesh, while his father K Madhava Reddy was a former chief justice. Reddy lost the Chevella seat in the last polls. His wealth grew from Rs 895 crore to Rs 4,568 crore in the last five years as per his affidavit. He also has a pending criminal case over cheating and criminal intimidation.  

Kasani Gnaneshwar, 69, was the runner up in the 2019 polls and lost the seat to BRS, which he joined in November 2023. Kasani, who studied till class 8 and is considered a strong leader of the backward caste, was the TDP’s Telangana president. In 2007, he had also formed his own Mana Party, but subsequently joined the Congress in 2018 and TDP in 2022.         

Kasani had slammed Naidu’s decision to contest the polls. Answering a question in a press interaction, the politician had said that TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu had not called him after his release from jail and that he was joining the BRS “as I was respectfully called and asked to join it”.  

Graphics by Gobindh VB.