Ponguleti, Renuka issues under Thakre\'s focus

Hyderabad: While Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy, former Khammam MP and disgruntled BRS leader, kept political parties wondering about his next move and whether he would join the Congress or the YSRTP, AICC (TS) in-charge Manikrao Thakre on Monday held a meeting with party leaders to discuss the political scenario in Khammam as well as the dwindling party’s vote bank in the district.

Even though former MP Renuka Chowdury put on a brave face following her meeting with Thakre on Monday, the local leadership involved in the election management firmly believed that the party should field a strong candidate in the coming elections.

Renuka Chowdury was elected twice from Khammam in 1999 and 2004, while in the 2014 election Srinivas Reddy won the seat on a YSRC ticket and later defected to the TRS (now BRS). Renuka Chowdary, a top leader from Khammam, who is aiming for the MP seat,  remains apprehensive about the possibility of Srinivas Reddy joining the Congress.

Renuka Chowdury, who was a former Union minister, represented the Congress in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha till 2018. When she contested in 2018, she secured about four lakh votes and lost by over 1.68 lakh votes to BRS candidate Nama Nageswara Rao.

On her chances of getting a seat this time for the upcoming elections, Renuka told Deccan Chronicle, “Who has the authority to decide who would get the ticket? There are many factors. Without distributing money, I was able to secure several votes, which was because of the sheer hard work of workers.”