From US entrepreneurs to AP politicians: 4 NRIs from TDP enter Assembly as MLAs

Vijayawada: The Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly sessions which are likely to begin on June 19 are going to witness the representation of four NRI MLAs elected from the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in the recently concluded Assembly elections.

The NRIs — mostly those affiliated with TDP — helped the party’s candidates financially and spent a good amount of money on campaigning to bring the TDP back to power in Andhra Pradesh after facing a severe poll debacle in the 2019 Assembly elections.

The four MLAs – Venigandla Ramu elected as an MLA from Gudivada and is from Atlanta, GA, Roshan Kumar Songa (Chinthalapudi) from Morgantown, West Virginia, Yarlagadda Venkata Rao (Gannavaram) from Dallas, Texas and Suresh Kakarla (Udayagiri) from Raleigh, North Carolina.

Venigandla Ramu

Venigandla Ramu, a Gudivada native, moved to the United States in 1999 to pursue a career as a software engineer. He founded an IT consulting firm in the United States and became a successful entrepreneur. In the 2024 elections, Venigandla Ramu defeated Kodali Nani in Gudivada with a margin of 53,040 votes. Nani won four straight elections before the 2024 defeat.

Nani was elected to the Assembly in 2004 as a TDP member. After Nani switched to the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP), the TDP leadership and cadre claimed the seat with pride, but were unable to defeat him in the 2014 and 2019 elections. Finally, Ramu defeated him in this election by a huge margin.

Roshan Kumar Songa

Another NRI Roshan Kumar Songa elected from Chinthalapudi is a techie-turned-politician.

Roshan Kumar’s NGO Mission Hope impacted around 30 villages in and around Chintalapudi and aided needy people by offering scholarships to students, food to daily wage labourers, and many other welfare programmes. Roshan Kumar defeated the YSRCP candidate Kambham Vijaya Raju with a majority of 26,972 votes.

Yarlagadda Venkata Rao

In Gannavaram, Yarlagadda Venkata Rao defeated the YSRCP candidate and two-time MLA Vallabhaneni Vamsi Mohan. In the 2019 elections, Vamsi contested on the TDP ticket and narrowly defeated the then-YSRC candidate Yarlagadda Venkata

Rao, who joined the party in 2018. During the YSRCP, Venkata Rao served as Krishna District Cooperative Central (KDCC) Bank chairman in 2019. However, in the recently concluded elections, Venkata Rao contested from the TDP and defeated Vamsi with a majority of 37,628 votes.

Suresh Kakarla

Suresh Kakarla from Udayagiri defeated YSRCP candidate Mekapati Rajagopal Reddy with a majority of 11,000 votes in the 2024 Assembly elections. Before entering into politics, Suresh completed his engineering in VR Siddhartha Engineering College in Vijayawada and left for the US for a job. To fulfil his passion for serving the poor and needy, Suresh returned to India, joined the TDP and won as an MLA from Udayagiri.

Pemmasani: From NRI to Union MoS

Dr Chandrasekhar Pemmasani, a newly elected TDP MP from a small hamlet in Andhra Pradesh, is the richest member assumed charge as a minister of state in the NDA Government, with stated assets worth Rs 5,700 crore.

In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Dr Pemmasani Chandrasekhar was elected as an MP from Guntur with a huge majority of 3,44,695 votes. He defeated YSRCP candidate K Venkata Roshaiah. The 48-year-old doctor-entrepreneur-politician graduated from Osmania Medical College in Hyderabad.

Pemmasani completed his post-graduation (MD in Internal medicine) from the Geisinger Medical Center in Danville, Pennsylvania, US, in 2005. Since 2010, Pemmasani has worked on behalf of the TDP’s NRI wing to support the party’s many welfare projects.