Gangula Suryanarayana Reddy alias Suri was a 14-year old student, when his father Gangula Ramnarayan Reddy was shot dead by Naxalites in Anantapur district forcing him to dropout of school and join the faction ridden politics of the region.
Reddy went underground, when his entire family was eliminated by the faction led by Paritala Ravindra in 1983. Suri was the main target of the attack, but he survived. However his mother Sakamma, younger brother Raghunath Reddy and sister Padma and two others were killed.
Paritala Ravi's group went all out against Suri's group and started hunting down his supporters, two of whom were killed in Hyderabad in early 1990s. Meanwhile, Paritala entered politics and got elected to the state assembly on a Telegu Desam Party ticket and became a minister and went after Suri.
Suri shot in to fame when he made an unsuccessful attempt to kill Paritala Ravindra by planting a car bomb in the Jubilee Hills area of Hyderabad. 26 people were killed whe the car bomb exploded outside a film studio. Suri along with 14 others was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment.
When Suri was serving the sentence, Paritala continued to chase his supporters and traced their hideouts by tapping the mobile phone of Suri, which he himself had got smuggled into the prison through some prison guards.
Suri had his revenge after the Congress returned to power in May 2004. In less than a year a group of assailants armed with bombs and guns attacked TDP MLA Paritala outside TDP office in Anantapur and killed him sending waves of shock across the state.
The TDP held the then Chief Minister YS Rajasekhar Reddy, his son Jaganmohan Reddy and many other Congress leaders responsible for the incident.
Suri's name figured among the accused of the case. The other prime accused Muddu Srinu alias J Srinivas Reddy, known to Suri was killed in Ananatpur jail in 2008.
While the state government commuted his sentence in Jubilee Hills car bomb blast case, he got bail in Paritala Ravi case on the orders of the high court. After he came out of the jail he started real estate business and was allegedly involved in settlement of disputes for money.
Earlier Suri's wife Bhanumati had also contested assembly elections on s Congress ticket from Penugonda in Anantapur district, the stronghold of Paritala Ravindra but she lost. After Paritala's death, his widow contested his assembly seat on TDP ticket and won. Suri is survived by wife and a son.
