His "marketing prowess" first gained attention when the Congress chose him to replace Konijeti Rosaiah as Andhra Pradesh chief minister.
Kiran Kumar Reddy joined the BJP at an event in New Delhi. (Screengrab)
The word going around in political circles is that the last chief minister of the united Andhra Pradesh, Nallari Kiran Kumar Reddy, has once again demonstrated his skill as a marketer.
Because of his skill of self-promotion, the BJP central leadership was ecstatic when he joined the saffron party, although Andhra Pradesh was devoid of such enthusiasm.
While introducing Reddy, Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi called him “an important leader from South India” and welcomed him.
In contrast, Reddy’s impact was at best limited only to his home constituency Pileru in the Chittoor district.
Joshi continued, “Kiran Reddy will bolster our campaign against corruption because of his sterling reputation as chief minister and MLA. It will be a significant boost for the BJP in Andhra Pradesh.”
Kiran Kumar Reddy joined the BJP on 7 April, nearly a month after sending a one-sentence resignation letter to AICC head Mallikarjun Kharge.
There was also a buzz that he would be joined by a few notable Congress figures as well. He attempted to persuade a few former Union ministers to also join the BJP along with him.
A Congress leader said he didn’t trust either Kiran Reddy or the BJP.
His “marketing prowess” first gained attention when the Congress high command chose Kiran Kumar Reddy to replace the party’s old guard Konijeti Rosaiah as the then-chief minister of united Andhra Pradesh.
The appointment of Reddy, who had never served in the Cabinet and had no experience in managing the government, as chief minister by the Congress high command was somewhat of an experiment.
He only served as the Assembly speaker and chief whip and was a four-time MLA coming from a political family.
“With the sudden and untimely passing of the party’s strong man YS Rajasekhar Reddy, the Congress was facing two issues in Andhra Pradesh at the time,” a senior Congress leader who was active in Andhra politics until a few years ago told South First.
“One came in the form of YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, who rebelled against the Congress high command, and another was the Telangana uprising under the direction of TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao,” explained the leader.
“Reddy presented himself at the time as a capable leader who could handle both issues, and came from the powerful Reddy community. However after 2014, the Congress suffered a crushing defeat both in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and was totally decimated over the years,” he added.
The leader also revealed that Kiran Reddy used to make covert trips to Delhi to meet important figures in the party’s central leadership and sell himself while portraying Rosaiah as a weak and ineffective leader.
The leader now says that Kiran Reddy might have won over the BJP central leadership using the same marketing strategies.
Although he was essentially in obscurity after the 2014 election, the fact that he was an ex-chief minister worked in his favour.
His influence is only felt in the Pileru Assembly segment, where his own younger brother Kishore Kumar Reddy failed to win in the 2014 elections.
It’s interesting that his brother is now with the TDP and immediately not known if he would join the BJP.
He strongly opposed the then Congress-led UPA government’s decision to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh, resigned from the party, and launched the Jai Samaikyandhra Party (JSP) ahead of the 2014 polls.
While Kiran Kumar Reddy decided at the last minute not to run for office on a JSP ticket, Kishore Kumar Reddy did and lost.
When he floated the JSP, none of the politicians joined him. Kiran Kumar Reddy remained with it. Everyone sidelined him after that.
Just one day before the election, Sabbam Hari, the JSP candidate from Visakhapatnam for the Lok Sabha, declared his withdrawal and vowed his support for Kambhampati Haribabu, the TDP-BJP candidate at the time.
In 2018, he dissolved the JSP and rejoined the Congress.
However, over the last few years, he stayed away from the Congress’ activities and was not seen in Congress scion Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra in Andhra Pradesh.
Coming from a political family, he started his career in politics in 1989 and won an Assembly seat on a Congress ticket from Vayalpadu.
He won the 1999 and 2004 elections from the same constituency, and in 2009 from the Pileru Assembly segment.
Kiran Kumar Reddy was the choice of the then Congress central leadership in 2010 to steer the party in the state when it decided to replace Konijeti Rosaiah as the Andhra Pradesh chief minister.
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