Will Amaron owner and India's richest MP Galla Jayadev retain Guntur constituency?

Well-known for voicing his opinions on different issues of public interest, Galla Jayadev is one of the wealthiest politicians in India with declared assets of Rs 683 crore in 2014.

An industrialist by profession, the 52-year-old is an MP of Telugu Desam Party (TDP) representing Guntur Lok Sabha constituency in Andhra Pradesh. Elected as an MP during the 16th Lok Sabha elections in 2014, TDP has once again given him a party ticket to contest from Guntur.

Jayadev is the managing director of Amara Raja Group, which owns automotive battery brand Amaron.

Galla Jayadev

Jayadev was born in Dighuvamagham village in Andhra Pradesh's Chittoor district to Ramachandra Naidu Galla, an industrialist who founded Amara Raja Group, and Aruna Kumari Galla, a politician from the state.

He had shifted to the United States at an early age and stayed there for 22 years. Jayadev studied politics and economics at the University of Illinois and worked for some time as an international sales executive at GNB Battery Technologies in the US.

After returning back to India, he married Padmavathi Ghattamaneni, daughter of Telugu film actor Krishna in 1991. In 1992, Jayadev along with his father started the automotive battery business and together they build the Amara Raja empire.

Positions held

Jayadev has been serving as the Vice Chairman and Executive Director of Amara Raja Batteries Limited and Director of Mangal Industries Limited since December 2000.

He has served as an executive member of Confederation of Indian Industry of Andhra Pradesh State Council (1998 to 1999) and (1999 to 2000).

He was also an executive member of the Indo American Chamber of Commerce, Hyderabad Branch from 1997 to 1998.

Political debut

In 2014, following his mother's footsteps, Jayadev had also joined the politics by contesting from Guntur as a TDP candidate and won with a high margin.

A distinguished orator, he is well known for his amazing speeches like the one he made at the parliament questioning the NDA government for not granting special status to Andhra Pradesh and initiated a debate on a no-confidence motion.