TDP candidate Munikrishna was elected as the Deputy Mayor of Tirupati Municipal Corporation. Munikrishna was supported by 26 people and YSRCP candidate Bhaskar Reddy by 21 people.
His son Bhumana Abhinay became the Deputy Mayor in 2021. Abhinay resigned from the post to contest as an MLA.
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YSR Congress is foul crying that the Government grabbed the seat forcibly using its power but then, back in 2021, when Abhinay Reddy became Deputy Mayor similar accusations followed. Bhumana was accused of making fake voters into the voters’ list and bringing people from Tamil Nadu to vote in that election.
Keeping that aside, this defeat brings us to the question of whether Bhumana’s dominance is done and dusted in Tirupati.
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Bhumana Karunkara Reddy has been active in Tirupati politics for a long time. He served as TUDA Chairman from 2004 to 2006. Later, he was the chairman of Tirupati Tirumala Devasthanam Board from 2006 to 2008. He first contested for Tirupati Assembly in 2009 on Congress Ticket but lost due to Chiranjeevi factor.
He won the 2012 by-election when Chiranjeevi resigned to go to Parliament.
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He lost in 2014 but won in 2019. He was nominated again as TTD chairman in August 2023 while his son unsuccessfully contested for Tirupati Assembly.
Bhumana was able to get a complete hold of Tirupati since 2004 by having control on local bodies to the Assembly and even the TTD.
TDP here suffered with multiple factions and in-fighting. Also, Balijas (the Kapu Community) is the decisive vote bank here.
With Bhumana, the financially strong Reddys always prevailed over the numerically strong Balijas are over a third of the population.
But that community swung one side from another whenever, they were polarized like for Chiranjeevi in 2009, 2014, and 2024, defeat became imminent for Bhumana.
At the same time, Balijas were not polarized for Pawan Kalyan as much as they did for Chiranjeevi in 2009. Janasena came a distant third here when it contested independently in 2019.
The blows after the 2024 elections are harder for Bhumana to sustain. The Assembly is gone, TTD is anyways gone, and now Tirupati Municipal Corporation is also lost.
The next five years will be very tough. Bhumana is looking like a spent force. His son, Abhinay is all noise but does not have it in him like his father.
If the TDP and Janasena alliance stays stronger than it is now, it will be Game Over.
Before taking about the future, the key is to remain relevant in the next five years. Also the Government is likely to tighten the screws over the irregularities in the TTD and Tirupati Corporation and other wrongdoings in the last five years.
