The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which came out with a list of families that dominate the political scene in Telangana, released the list for the residual Andhra Pradesh. The region, with two distinct geographies of Andhra and Rayalaseema, has 29 powerful families that control politics of the undivided State. These families will now have to limit their area of operation to 13 districts in the two areas.
“We have shortlisted only the most powerful families. The list doesn't contain names of families that too have some influence,” Kiran Kumar Vissa, an AAP leader told Business Line .
Unlike in the Telangana region, most of these ‘political’ families also have huge industrial interests. This list includes T Subbirami Reddy, Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, Kavuri Sambasiva Rao, Rayapati Sambasiva Rao, N Chandrababu Naidu, Galla Arunakumari and Lagadapati Rajagopal. All these leaders belong to three parties of Telugu Desam, Congress and YSR Congress Party.
“The control of the political families is implemented through money, crime and goondaism, so much so that for a new entrant to even hold a political rally is considered a risk to personal safety in many areas,” the AAP said.
Political families in the region: Srikakulam - Dharmana Prasada Rao; Vizianagaram - Botsa Satyanarayana and Gajapatirajus; Visakhpatnam -- Dadi Veerabhadra Rao and Dronamrajus; Krishna – NTR, Devineni, Vangaveeti, Kodela Sivaprasada Rao; Kurnool – Kotla family; Kadapa – YSR family; Nellore – Anam Ramanarayana Reddy family; Chittoor – Kiran Kumar Reddy and Chandrababu Naidu; and Anantapur – J C Diwakar Reddy.
The Chiranjeevi family too has upped its stake in politics. While the actor-turned-politician merged his party with Congress, his actor-brother Pawan Kalyan floated a new party Jana Sena. Their brother-in-law Allu Arvind played a major role in Praja Rajyam and contested from Anakapalli Lok Sabha constituency in 2009.
“We appeal to all the citizens of Andhra Pradesh to realise that we cannot use our vote every five years to put one of these families into power,” he said.