He was a four-time MLA. He was also the minister for major irrigation during 2009-20014 period. Not just that, he was the first PCC chief after Telangana was carved out. But, today this strong BC leader is keeping an unusually low profile. He is not even bothering to keep contact with the voters of his native constituency of Janagam.
No marks for guessing who the political leader is. He is Ponnala Lakshmaiah, one of the most well-known BC face of the Congress Party. Unfortunately for him, he suffered consecutive defeats in 2014 and 2018 assembly elections. Since then, he has not been keeping touch with Janagam constituency. There is not even a single instance of Ponnala taking out a protest or a rally or a dharna in the constituency since 2018. Occasionally, he goes live on the Facebook to give out his ideas on the latest politics. But, he is not visiting the constituency.
Ponnala Lakshmaiah was considered quite close to late YSR and had enjoyed very good relations with him. Even after YSR’s demise, the was active both as an irrigation minister and also as the PCC chief. But, two back-to-back defeats seem to have affected him very much.