BJP's ‘giant-killer’ who beat Revanth Reddy, KCR in Telangana: Who is Katipally Ramana Reddy?

A businessman by profession, Katipally Venkata Ramana Reddy began his political journey with Congress.

Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Katipally Venkata Ramana Reddy in an unusual turn of events, managed to defeat both the outgoing and possible incoming chief ministers in Telangana as the election result declared the BJP leader victorious in the key Kamareddy assembly. Reddy, popularly known as KVR, defeated BRS chief K Chandrashekar Rao by 6,741 votes and state Congress chief Revanth Reddy by 11,736 votes.

BJP candidate from Kamareddy Assembly seat, Katipally Venkata Ramana defeats sitting CM of Telangana and BRS Party President K. Chandrashekar Rao and Congress CM candidate, Revanth Reddy(Kiren Rijiju-X)

“Meet BJP’s Katipally Venkata Ramana, the giant slayer of these elections, who defeated both sitting CM KCR and incoming (hopefully) CM Revanth Reddy, from Kamareddy in Telangana. BJP will not just win big in Lok Sabha, it will also storm to power in Telangana, next time," BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya wrote on X (formerly Twitter) while congratulating Reddy for his win.

Who is the ‘giant-slayer’ KVR?

1. A businessman by profession, KVR began his political journey with Congress. He was made a member of the Mandal Parishad Territorial Council in the erstwhile Nizamabad district in 2004.
2. He then went on to become a Zilla Parishad Territorial Council member and served as zilla parishad chairperson.
3. After the death of Y S Rajasekhara Reddy (YSR), then chief minister of erstwhile Andhra Pradesh, KVR started supporting the BRS (then the TRS) in the 2014 assembly elections.
4. Ahead of the 2018 assembly polls, Ramana Reddy joined the BJP following allegations of him carrying out a murder conspiracy of a BRS worker.
5. Subsequently, he garnered support as a BJP leader and is known to act on the demands of people as opposed to providing financial aid.