Khammam: Meet Congress candidate Ramasahayam Raghuram Reddy whose family laid network of temples

Khammam: Much before the Ram temple was built in Ayodhya, the family of Congress’ Khammam parliament candidate Ramasahayam Raghuram Reddy constructed Ram temple, Shiva temple, and Venkateswara Swamy temple in many places.

Born on December 19, 1961, in Hyderabad to Ramasahayam Surender Reddy and Jayamala, Ramasahayam Raghuram Reddy completed a B.Com education from Nizam College, Hyderabad and later pursued a PG Diploma in education.

Originally hailing from Chegomma in Kusumanchi Mandal of Paleru constituency, his father Ramsahayam Surender Reddy was born and brought up in Khammam.

Ramasahayam Surender Reddy has been among the Congress stalwarts. He was MLA for four times from Dornakal constituency. Later he was elected MP from Warangal constituency four times in joint Warangal district.

He has been active in the Congress party since 1985. His family was close to late Prime Ministers Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, and PV Narasimha Rao. Surender Reddy worked as a police patel for Jeellachervu, Chegomma, and Mutyalagudem villages in Kusumanchi Mandal and Maddulapalli village in Khammam Mandal.

Nallari Kiran Kumar Reddy, the then Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, nominated him to the Rajya Sabha in 2012 and MLC in 2014. However, at the last minute, someone else was chosen.

Raghuram Reddy served as patron of the Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) in 2011-2013. Currently, he is serving as the Vice Chairman of the Board of Governors of Hyderabad Public School and a board member of the Hyderabad Race Club.

Along with Raghuram Reddy, his grandparents belonged to the Sevadrikpatha family. Market Yard, Police Station, Tehsildar, MPDO, RTC Bus Stand, PHCs, Government Schools, Government Colleges, and TTD Welfare Halls were allocated free of charge less than a decade ago in Maripeda-Bangla.

Reddy Women's Hostel was built in Warangal. Ram temple, Shiva temple, and Venkateswara Swamy temple were built in many places. Their home in Chegomma, Kusumanchi Mandal, their native village, was donated free to a government school. Raghuram Reddy's family also donated land to PHC and Chegomma Harijan Colony

A fight over Khammam seat:

Party senior leader and state deputy chief minister, Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka and his cabinet colleague, Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy had a fierce fight over Khammam seat.

Bhatti was vying for the Khammam seat for his wife Nandini

K C Venugopal, AICC secretary made it clear to both of them that both of them would not get the ticket on April 23. There were a lot of discussions according to sources and finally a consensus was drawn on Reddy.

The Reddy community is very strong in Khammam and Congress workers as well as survey reports showed that only a Reddy would stand a better chance.

Final three seats

The final three seats - Khammam, Karimnagar and Hyderabad became a bone of contention for AICC as the TPCC senior leadership were not able to draw a consensus.

According to sources, CM Revanth Reddy gave clearance to Sameer Walliullah for Hyderabad and Velichala Rajender Rao for Karimnagar but for Khammam he wanted to wait as the final appeasement was carried out by K C Venugopal.