Khammam: The Congress is facing a piquant situation in getting candidates to contest from the Khammam Lok Sabha constituency. Although there were many aspirants until 10 days ago, the situation seems to have changed after the political developments since then.
Senior leaders, like V. Hanumantha Rao, Renuka Chowdhary, TPCC working president A. Revanth Reddy, and businessmen like Mr V. Rajendra Prasad and Mr Vaddiraju Ravichandra had lobbied for Khammam seat. Even former MP and TD politburo member Nama Nageswara Rao was aspiring to get a Congress ticket from Khammam.
The Congress’ prospects were bright because the party had won a substantial number of seats along with the Telugu Desam in last year's elections. But the continuing series of defections has weakened the party.
Arch rivals Khammam MP Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy and former minister Tummala Nageswara Rao convinced a businessman who had been brought in by CLP leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka to withdraw from the contest. He has reportedly sought a TRS ticket and has met working president K.T. Rama Rao.
Some TRS leaders worked on Mr Nama Nageswara Rao who ended up at the TRS Bhavan to meet top ruling party leaders. This affected his standing a great deal. At the same time, Mr Ravichandra, who had contested from the Warangal Assembly segment as a Congress candidate and lost, was trying extremely hard to get a nomination for the Khammam LS seat. Hhe too happened to meet TRS leaders through Sattupalli MLA Sandra Venkata Veeraiah, who is defecting to the ruling party, and was lured to aspire for the TRS ticket.
