Fishermen neta behind bars for fishy deals

HYDERABAD/REPALLE: Mopidevi Venkataramana’s frustration was visible when his name kept popping up as the possible recipient of Rs 10 lakh bribe from a liquor syndicate organiser in February this year. He threatened to quit, holding a blank paper, hoping the chief minister would come to his rescue. While Kiran Kumar Reddy did bail him out from the booze mafia racket, the Vanpic project has now swallowed him.
It was during Ramana's tenure as minister for ports and investments in Y S Rajasekhara Reddy’s cabinet that several investments were facilitated into Jaganmohan Reddy's companies allegedly in return for concessions to Vanpic promoters. The minister was quizzed by the CBI in March about the alleged quid pro quo benefits to Jagan, and on Thursday, nailed him on the undue benefits extended to the Vanpic promoters and arrested him.
Till 2003-04, Ramana was not talked about much in the Congress. His abilities were put to test by YSR who deputed him to oversee the Visakhapatnam-I segment bypolls when fishermen were agitating against the Gangavaram port in 2005-06. Ramana succeeded in prevailing upon them as he himself belonged to the community and paved the way for the election of Dronamraju Srinivas. YSR rewarded him with a ministerial post in 2007 and put him in charge of technical education. Ramana was made minister of ports, airports and infrastructure in 2008 around the time when the Vanpic project was launched. “The recognition he has gained today is because of being made minister by YSR,” points out fishermen sangham leader Channa Das.
In fact, YSR had asked sitting Repalle legislator Devineni Mallikarjuna Rao to not press for re-election so as to accommodate Ramana after the latter’s constituency, Kuchinapudi, was dissolved in the delimitation exercise in 2009 elections. “That was the reward given to Ramana by YSR for his services rendered in launching the Vanpic project,” TDP leader Anagani Satyaprasad recalls.
Ramana’s rise — financially and politically — began only after he became the ports minister and he started expanding his financial empire by capturing every sector, including sand, liquor and fishing, in the region. He reportedly became a virtual factionist in the constituency, silencing all signs of opposition. He won three successive elections since 1999 as the lone fisherman representative in the Assembly.
But Ramana’s entry into politics was accidental. A graduate of commerce from Andhra Loyola College at Vijayawada, Ramana wanted to become a fisheries exporter and expand his family business. He reached Madras in 1985 soon after his degree and opened an office to take up the exports business. Before Ramana could settle down in the business, Congress strongman and present MLC Singam Basavapunnaiah summoned him back home.
Ramana’s father was head of the fishermen community and a strong follower of Basavapunnaiah. With a view to expanding his political base in the constituency, Basavapunnaiah, a Kapu leader, roped in Ramana to contest the mandal parishad elections in 1987 with a promise to get him a ticket in the 1989 Assembly elections from Kuchinapudi. But he lost the seat with a wafer-thin margin of 45 votes. He continued as mandal president till 1992 and contested the Assembly election in 1994. However, he lost the election again, to BC leader Epuri Seetharavamma. In 1999, lady luck smiled on him as he romped home with a thumping majority.
“Ramana is shrewd and intelligent. He aligned with Nedurumalli Janardhan Reddy when the latter was calling the shots in the state Congress. But he switched loyalties towards YSR just before 2004,” reveals one of his confidants Narayana Prasad. Although Ramana expresses loyalties to his political guru Basavapunnaiah, he has never associated himself with Reddy, Kamma or Kapu factions in the district.
“I felt envious when he surpassed me to become a minister. As his guru, I am always happy for his rise in politics. I hope he would come out clean in this case,” Basavapunnaiah says. Standing 6-feet tall, 49-year-old Ramana has two children, son is in the third year of engineering and daughter has just completed IX standard.