Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy on Saturday appointed Tirupati MLA Bhumana Karunakar Reddy as chairman of the Tirumala Tirupati Devastanam (TTD). He succeeds incumbent Y V Subba Reddy, whose term ended on Saturday.

Karunakar Reddy was the TTD chairman from 2006 to 2008, when late Y S Rajasekhar Reddy was the chief minister. He won from Tirupati as MLA in 2012 by-election following resignation of K Chiranjeevi, who became Rajya Sabha member after merging his Praja Rajyam Party in the Congress.

However, Karunakar Reddy lost the Tirupati Assembly seat to the TDP in the subsequent 2014 Assembly election by a margin of a little over 40,000 votes. In 2019 again, he contested on the YSR Congress ticket and won the seat by 708 votes majority.

Karunakar Reddy had been a staunch loyalist of Dr Rajasekhar Reddy and now Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy. Sources say that Karunakar Reddy is retiring from active politics and is not ready to contest the 2024 general election. He is asking the ticket for his son in the next election and the TTD chairman was his last option.

Several leaders from the ruling YSR Congress aspired for the TTD chairman post. At one point it was widely said that BC leader Janga Krishna Murthy would be the next chairman of the TTD. Even for the former minister Siddha Raghava Rao’s name also figured as the top contestant for the post.

But, finally the chief minister cleared the candidature of Karunakar Reddy in the eleventh hour, putting an end to the speculation.