The Congress never drifts away from its trusted and time-tested tradition of keeping the suspense up till the last minute. Will the sulink Eluru MP Kavuri Sambasiva Rao get placated by the party through the nomination of his daughter Dr Sri Nagi, Chief Operating Officer of Medwin Hospitals. One TV channel flashed this news and went on to propagate her name as a probable on behalf of the Congress to the State Legislative Council.
It would have been a master stroke, if Kavuri’s peek-a-boo over his continuance in the Congress wasn’t a travesty. But now, if his daughter is nominated to the Council, it is a message loud and clear to the “very senior” Congress MP that he will never be inducted into the Union Cabinet.
The Congress is said to have almost zeroed in on the names of its nominees: Tentative information indicates that the party chose sitting MLCs Ponguleti Sudhakar Reddy, and Dheeravath Bharati Ragya Naik. Another sitting MLC Kandula Lakshmi Durgesh is also expecting a renomination.
The other names included Raghurami Reddy (son of former Warangal MP R Surender Reddy), Kanteti Satyanarayana Raju, Daya Sagar and former minister Ali Mohd Shabber, P V Vani (daughter of former prime minister P V Narasimha Rao), Nerella Sharada, APCC general secretary Rajini Reddy and former Vizianagaram DCC president Kolagatla Veerabhadra Swamy. The APCC chief is also backing the name of one Santosh Kumar, former DCC president of Warangal.
The APCC president Chief submitted a list of 165 names to choose from to the high command. While the re-nomination of Sudhakar Reddy and Bharathi Ragya Naik is certain, Vani is likely to replace her brother and former minister P V Ranga Rao whereas Rajini Reddy is being supported by Deputy Chief Minister and Veerabhadra Swamy has the backing of Botcha Satyanarayana. The name of Mohd Ali Shabber has been reportedly recommended by Union Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad.
The Congress gets all the four MLC seats in the Governor’s quota. The TRS and YSRC nominees Mehmood Ali and Adireddy Apparao have already filed their nominations.
The hectic lobbying by Congress leaders and multiple rounds of discussions between the Chief Minister, APCC chief, AICC general secretary and, of course, Congress president Sonia Gandhi indicated that the party did not want to take chances. But surely, the so-called balancing act keeping the numerous political permutations and caste combinations in view may not actually influence the electorate in the general elections.
The tour of Oscar Fernandez, in-charge of elections in the AICC, to West Bengal forced the announcement of the Congress nominees. The last date for filing of nominations is March 11.
The Telugu Desam Party too froze on two names for sure. Though the name of Samanthakamani is finalised, the party’s third nominee would find the election tough in the event of an extra candidate entering the fray from any party. Already, the TDP wrote to the CPI, the CPI-M, the MIM and the Lok Satta seeking their support. If the CPI swears its support, the TDP can get all its nominees elected without any hazzle.
The party chose a minority Md Saleem and Yanamala Ramakrishnudu, dumping the Leader of the Opposition Dadi Veerabhadra Rao in the Council. This means, Ramakrishnudu will step into the shoes of Veerabhadra Rao, thus enjoying a Cabinet rank for the next six years.
Though the party sources are claiming that Veerabhdra Rao would be fielded from Anakapalle Lok Sabha seat, whether the leader would be interested in seeking an election to the Lok Sabha is yet to be seen. For now, he is a disappointed man. Yanamala, who is considered the master strategist, will now come into the Council and he fits the bill too. Saleem’s nomination is understandable. If need be, the TDP expects the MIM to support Saleem’s candidacy which may not be as easy as it is perceived to be.
A strong contender for the position G Koteswara Rao, who pleaded his case on the plank of unflinching loyalty and also as a gesture to differently-abled persons, broke down and Chandrababu Naidu had to console him.
Ramakrishnudu has given up from the race of any direct elections for now. So, the fight in Tuni Assembly constituency will not have at least one titan in the fray. The YSR Congress had already declared its nominee from Tuni Assembly seat, from where Ramakrishnudu was elected in six successive elections. TDP too had too many aspirants, but all could not be satisfied, anyways.
CPI on the horns of dilemma in the Council elections
To be or not to be and that is the question for the Communist Party of India (CPI). The Communists are on the horn of dilemma on whether to support their old ally Telugu Desam or back stand by Telangana Rashtra Samithi, their new friend in the Telangana region, in the ensuing elections to the Legislative Council.
With its strength depleting from 91 to 77 MLAs in the last three years, the TDP can win two seats on its own but needs the support of four legislators to get the third seat and the CPI, with four MLAs is the perfect choice for the main opposition party. Telugu Desam chief N Chandrababu Naidu has already wrote letters to the leaders of the two Communist Parties and also to Lok Satta Party founder Dr N Jayaprakash Narayan seeking their support for the party’s third candidate.
On the other hand, the TRS, which has 17 MLAs in the House, needs the support 11 legislators to get its nominee elected to the Council and has already requested seven-member MIM and expects the CPI to vote for its candidate as it is in favour of Telangana.
But the CPI leaders are in no hurry as they will take a decision only after the last date of filing the nominations is over. If only 10 candidates are in the race for 10 seats, the election will be unanimous and the CPI can heave a sigh of relief. Till now, there are no indications of any party forcing an election as the YSR Congress and TRS have announced only one name each on behalf of their party. The TDP will be content with three seats but the Congress is yet to announce its list of candidates.
YSRC keeps competition on tenterhooks
The YSR Congress, whose political fortunes are on the upswing for the last two years, is miles ahead of other parties as far as preparations for elections are concerned. While political detractors campaigned relentlessly that the party is stung by lack of cadre and organisational structure in place, its incarcerated president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy pulled a fast one on all his competittors. Now, more than 125-year-old Congress and 30-year-old TDP are finding the ground under their feet eroding fast, what with Jagan Reddy blowing election conch in the form of announcement of party in-charges, who are almost the official nominees, of the party in the upcoming Assembly elections.
He kept every one guessing as regards the Lok Sabha seats. Adversary media came up with reports that the new political party is suffering badly from internecine feuds with too many contenders for every post of an MLA in many a constituency.
A transformation to reckon with in deed. For, the YSRC, which was called a cadre-less party is now bogged down in internal squabbles, more than the political formations that matured like a vintage wine in Andhra Pradesh political amphitheatre.
The YSRC has set up a core committee chaired by party’s honorary president Y S Vijayamma. The members include senior leaders like Dr M V Mysura Reddy, J Somayajulu and others which appointed coordinators for the Assembly and Lok Sabha Constituencies. The names are announced officially after being endorsed by party president and Kadapa MP Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, who is presently lodged in the Chanchalguda jail.
While appointing coordinators in several districts, the party has taken several factors like sitting members, caste equations, minorities, BCs and other weaker sections into consideration. Above all, those belonging to the Reddy community were the pampered lot in the Rayalaseema districts while the weaker sections and kapus were accorded priority in the coastal region.
Of the 52 Assembly seats in four Rayalaseema districts, in-charges for 39 seats were announced. Among them, 30 belonged to the Reddy community. Most of the in-charges in the north coastal districts are from backward classes while kapus had their way in the Godavari districts. The party is yet to announce in-charges in the Telangana region.
Interestingly, the leaders of Congress and Telugu Desam, who joined the party, have been recognized for their services.
Contrary to the reports that YSRC lacked cadre at the grass root level due to which it fared poorly in the cooperative elections, there has been intense pressure on the party’s leadership to get nominated to these posts.
Only one name was announced in many constituencies but in some places where there was heavy demand, the name of second leader was announced.
The party will either name these coordinators as its candidates in the next elections or will chose one from the names suggested by the coordinators.
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