Hyderabad: The number of women representatives in the Lok Sabha from Andhra Pradesh has come down to just three from five in the last Lok Sabha.
Interestingly, all the three newly-elected women MPs are fresh faces. K. Kavitha, daughter of Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) chief K. Chandrasekhara Rao, is the only woman MP from Telangana, which has 17 Lok Sabha seats.
Two women MPs were elected from Seemandhra, which sends 25 representatives to parliament.
Kavitha, who headed Telangana Jagruthi, a cultural outfit, had been participating in the movement for a separate Telangana state. At 36, she is the youngest MP from the state.
Holding a bachelors degree in technology, she was elected from Nizamabad Lok Sabha seat, defeating her nearest rival and incumbent MP Madhu Yaskhi Goud of the Congress.
Kavitha, who inherited her oratory skills from her father, has made her debut in parliament.
Both the women MPs elected from Seemandhra belong to the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP).
Kothapalli Geetha, a tribal, proved a giant killer by defeating senior Congress leader and union tribal welfare minister Kishore Chandra Deo in Arako. Geetha’s nearest rival was G. Sandhya Rani of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP).
The 43-year-old bureaucrat-turned-businesswoman was successful in her maiden electoral fight. Geetha, who holds masters degree in public administration, worked as deputy collector before joining her husband in managing the Visweswara Group of companies.
Geetha is the daughter of K. Jacob, who was the first graduate from the tribal belt of East Godavari district.
Butta Renuka, who was elected from Kurnool Lok Sabha constituency, hails from the weavers community. The 42-year-old businesswoman, who has passed only the high school, is the first MP from her community. Her husband B.S. Neelakantha is the promoter of Butta Group, which is into hospitality, education, branded retail and automobile sectors.
The undivided Andhra Pradesh had five women MPs in the last Lok Sabha. All the four from Seemandhra were defeated. Three of them were union ministers of state. Pannaba Lakshmi and K. Krupa Rani both failed to get re-elected.
Though D. Purandeswari, daughter of TDP founder N.T. Rama Rao, quit the Congress and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party just before the election. She could not escape the defeat.
Botsa Jhansi, wife of former president of Congress party’s Andhra Pradesh unit Botsa Satyanarayana, was also defeated.
Actress Vijayashanthi, who was elected to Lok Sabha in 2009 from Medak on TRS ticket, contested this time for the assembly but lost the poll.