KURNOOL: Kurnool has always played a dominant and strategic role in Andhra Pradesh politics. The ruling TD is well aware of this and of the volatile political turf but has always maintained a stoic silence. Not any longer though.
TD supremo and Chief Minister Mr N. Chandrababu Naidu is now reportedly squirming over the fresh developments in Kurnool.
The see-saw fight between Kurnool MLA Mr S.V. Mohan Reddy and his opponent Mr T.G. Bharath is getting curiouser by the day as both are relentlessly trying for a TD ticket.
While Mr Reddy claims that there is no confusion as he was declared candidate by none other than AP IT minister Nara Lokesh, Mr Bharath's camp insists that candidates were never declared beforehand in TD and the choice of candidates was also based on the candidate's ability to win based on a series of surveys conducted by the party.
Therefore, there was nothing ‘sanguine’ about Mohan Reddy's candidature as he too has to await his fate depending on the survey results. Meanwhile the Bharath camp is confident that they can turn the tide in their favour as the election year gets closer.
The suave T.G. Bharath, son of Rajya Sabha MP T.G. Venkatesh, keen on contesting from Kurnool on a TD ticket, launched Constituency Vision Yatra a few weeks back. The purpose is to penetrate deeper into the constituency to probe into the needs of that people that could be incorporated into the manifesto that would act as a blueprint for developing Kurnool.
Mr. Bharath said, "Through this Vision Yatra, I am directly meeting people and learning their needs to be incorporated in the city manifesto which I am determined to implement."
T.G. Bharath, the chairman and managing director of Rayalaseema Group of Companies, is testing the waters with Vision Yatra. Kurnool town has 55 wards and most of the wards were benefited one way or the other by the development projects extended by Mr T.G. Venkatesh, father of Mr Bharath, when he served as minister and parliament member.
Mr Mohan Reddy also has his own plan of checking out the needs of the people. He has been visiting wards under his ‘Ward Darshini’ programme and maintaining the voter connection.
Mr Reddy, originally from the YSRC, was thrown into the limelight as his niece Bhuma Akhila Priya was made tourism minister and her brother Bhuma Bramhananda Reddy was elected MLA of Nandyal constituency in a by-election.
A political analyst said that three MLAs from a single family had totally altered the balance in the district politics. However, what is intriguing is, while both Mr Mohan Reddy and Mr Bharath are making individual strategies, the TD cadre is closely watching whom the high command selects for the elections.
With elections around the corner, ticket aspirants of leading political parties take up voter wooing programs to get closer to them.
