Khammam: Family members of several top Congress leaders in the region are seeking party tickets for the Khammam LS seat. Of the seven assembly segments, Congress had won six and the CPI one seat.
Deputy CM Bhatti Vikramarka’s wife Bhatti Nandini, minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy's brother Prasada Reddy, and another minister Thummala Nageshwar Rao's son Yugandhar and former PCC president V Hanumantha Rao are seeking the Congress ticket this time.
TPCC’s former working president Jetti Kusum Kumar and Osmania University leader Lokesh Kumar Yadav are also trying for the ticket.
Notably, senior BRS leaders, defeated party MLAs, and former ministers are not showing any interest in contesting the Khammam LS seat.
The BJP has no strong base in the erstwhile Khammam district. It had a poor show in the assembly constituencies it contested in the recent polls. Yet, the party leadership is trying to improve its clout through the Vijay Sankalp bus yatra that has just ended.
On the Congress side, Renuka Chowdhury was strongly lobbying for the Khammam LS ticket till she was nominated to the Rajya Sabha. She is backing industrialist Raja for the Khammam MP ticket, party sources said.
Lone BRS MLA from Bhadrachalam, Thallam Venkat Rao along with his family met Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy and Minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy along with Venkat Rao in Hyderabad on Sunday. Venkat Rao’s meeting with Revanth Reddy fuelled speculation about his plans to join the Congress.
Before the assembly elections, Venkat Rao joined the Congress along with Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy. But, Venkat switched sides to the BRS when he was denied the ticket to contest from Bhadrachalam where sitting Congress MLA Podem Veeraiah was in the reckoning.
The assembly constituencies Palair, Khammam, Wyra, Madhira, Ashwaraopet, Sathupalli, and Kothagudem under Khammam LS constituency are represented by the Congress while Kothagudem by CPI MLA Kunamneni Sambasiva Rao.
Except for one or two, all the leaders seeking party tickets for Khammam Lok Sabha seat are relatives -- family members of senior Congress leaders and financially strong enough to fight the elections.
Bhatti Nandidi is a familiar face among the local Congress cadre and second-rung leaders since she was looking after the activities of Bhatti Vikramarka in his absence and attending to local issues.
Both Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy and Thummala Nageshwar Rao are senior leaders of the erstwhile Khammam and are now ministers. Thummala Nageshwar Rao was a strong leader and worked as a minister repeatedly before joining the Congress. Bhatti Nandini appealed to the party's high command to give her the party ticket for Khammam.
V. Hanumantha Rao claimed that many Congress leaders and leaders of various communities are requesting him to contest the LS polls from Khammam.
