Apparently, beards can bring water to starved constituencies. At least that’s what TDP MLC V Satish Reddy wants us to believe. The legislator, who took an oath to not shave his beard until Pulivendula constituency in Andhra’s Kadapa district received irrigation water, has now shaved off his beard and his hair after the Gandikota reservoir was inaugurated on Wednesday.
V Satish Reddy got his head tonsured and removed his beard, before offering prayers at the Sri Sai baba temple at Pydipalem. Reddy, who is also the AP Council Deputy Chairman, had first taken the vow after he unsuccessfully contested from Pulivendula in the 2014 elections.
The constituency is known to be a stronghold of the YSR family. While former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy won three successive elections in 1999, 2004 and 2009, his younger brother, YS Vivekananda Reddy was the elected representative from the constituency for a decade before that. After YSR's death, his wife Vijayamma, won in the 2011 polls, while his son Jaganmohan Reddy has been the representative since the 2014 elections.
At the public meet in Pydipalem on Wednesday, Reddy touched Naidu's feet. The Chief Minister was also all praise for the MLC's 'efforts' as part of the project.
After shaving his head and beard, Reddy told the media, "This was for the people. All this difficulty was also for them only. After seeing the neglect of the people in the area, I took the cause upon myself."
Though the Gandikota reservoir was first conceived in 2006, the project was taken up with a renewed interest by Naidu since he came into power. The plan is to give water to the Gandikota reservoir through the Owk reservoir and lift water using a pump-house into the Pydipalem reservoir before finally diverting water to Pulivendula through branch canals.
However, many villages will get submerged in the process, with villagers and activists moving NHRC over compensation and rehabilitation of the displaced villagers.