D Srinivas changes strategy for elusive win

Nizamabad: To avoid consecutive defeats in Nizamabad Urban Assembly constituency, former PCC president D. Srinivas migrated to neighbouring Nizamabad Rural Assembly constituency (earlier known as Dichpally constituency) to better his chances of winning as five times Telugu Desam MLA from the constituency Mandava Venkateshwar Rao retired from active politics.

The Congress cadres believe that the absence of a strong contender would make victory a cakewalk for Mr Srinivas.

The former PCC chief won the Nizamabad Urban Assembly constituency thrice before in 1989, 1999 and 2004, and lost it four ti-mes, as well. Surprisingly, he was defeated twice in the capacity of PCC president in 2009 general elections and 2010 byelection. After prolonged discussions with party inner circle, Mr

Srinivas took the decision to shift to the Nizamabad Rural Assembly constituency from the Nizamabad Urban. He has been preparing grounds for the elections for the past two years.

Meanwhile, the TRS high command has fielded a strong candidate, former MLA Bajireddy Govardhan from Nizamabad as it is his home constituency.

Meanwhile, Mr Govar-dhan has already begun a scathing attack on his arch rival Mr Srinivas along with highlighting the points of TRS manifesto. The second rung leaders of the Congress, the Telugu Desam have also joined the TRS in support of Mr Govardhan.

Interestingly, both Mr Srinivas and Mr Govardhan hail from the same dominant Munnuru Kapu community in the constituency.

Speaking to this newspaper, Kethavath Prakash, the upa sarpanch of Mallaram thanda in Nizamabad Rural mandal, said, “The Congress is also getting equal credit with the TRS for carving out of the Telangana state.”

BJP candidate G. Anand Reddy is also striving hard to make an impact keeping in mind the forthcoming election.