hyderabad the famous balapur laddu was knocked down on sunday for rs 189 lakh the highestever auction price as an mlc from rayalaseema and his telangana business partner joined the bidding to gift the prasadam to ap chief minister ys jagan mohan reddy the mlc rv ramesh yadav belongs to the ysrcpthis is the first time that the balapur laddu which weighs 21kg auctioned on the day of immersion of the idols of lord ganesh is being gifted to ap chief minister postbifurcation of the statethe move has surprised many a political pundit as it comes at a time when the relations between the two telugu states are at the lowest over krishna water dispute it also gains significance as jagans sister ys sharmila has launched a new political party in telangana and is actively touring the state interestingly the joint successful bidder marri shashank reddy is a native of nadergul in telanganaalso this is the first time that a politician from rayalaseema region of ap has participated in the laddu auction in the past 26 years jagan mohan reddy hails from the region the laddu offered to lord ganesh is considered auspicious and the winner of the bid distributes it among close relatives for their wellbeing and prosperityramesh yadav and shashank reddy are partners in an education consultancy firm the mlc will now take the laddu to vijayawada to give it to jagan with the mlc from kadapa joining the fray this time the bidding went on briskly and people watched with political interest over the outcome finally the laddu fetched rs 13 lakh more than that of the 2019 auction when it got rs 176 lakh there was no auction in 2020 due to pandemic and incidentally the laddu was presented to telangana chief minister k chandrasekhar raojagan became the third chief minister to receive the balapur laddu it was also presented to tdp president and former chief minister n chandrababu naidu in 2013 even as the agitation over separate telangana was in full swingaround 15 people participated in the auction with the bid starting at 1116 while many backed out after the bid touched rs 10 lakh the rayalaseema leader and his business partner continued with their bid till no one challenged them ramesh is from the bc yadav community he is the first yadav to become an mlc after k ramaiah in 1962ramesh yadav told toi that he had tried to take part in 2019 laddu auction but could not due to various reasons i was hopeful of bidding it in 2020 but there was no auction due to pandemic restrictions its a tough competition and finally i have won it he saidhe said since jagan had made him an mlc it was his privilege to gift the famous balapur laddu to the lattershashank reddy said he was trying for an appointment of k chandrasekhar rao to show him the balapur laddu and take his blessingswatch balapur ganpati laddu auction brings in rs 189 lakh