Congress yet to make headway in seat selection in Andhra Pradesh
YSR, PCC chief throw the ball into Central Election Committee’s court
Intense competition for seats, caste equations involved
Consensus elusive, particularly over Telangana seats
HYDERABAD:
Unable to reach a consensus on candidates in several Parliamentary constituencies, particularly those in Telangana, Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy and AP Congress Committee president D. Srinivas have thrown the ball into the court of party’s Central Election Committee (CEC).
The preliminary short-listing of candidates for the Lok Sabha seats that was held in the presence of the Central Screening Committee chairman Pranab Mukherjee in two phases, appears to have ended inconclusively.
Intense competition for some seats, complex caste equations and reluctance of sitting members to shift to new constituencies left the committee with no other option than referring the whole exercise to the CEC, which meets on Monday.
“Though the party received a bunch of applications for constituencies like Adilabad, Mahabubabad, Warangal, Malkajgiri, Bhongir, Chevella, Nalgonda, Medak and Zaheerabad, the big question is identifying the right candidate, who can give a tough time to the opposition parties,” a senior Congress leader remarked.
Leaders maintained that candidate selection in constituencies reserved for SCs & STs such as Adilabad, Mahabubabad and Warangal was turning out to be a Herculean task. At the same time, it was also finding it tough to choose nominees for seats such as Nizamabad, Malkajgiri, Bhongir, Zaheerabad and Nalgonda. Informed sources told The Hindu that the euphoria over packing off former Chief Minister N. Janardhan Reddy to Rajya Sabha was shortlived.
Leaders thought the decision would ease the complex seat selection process in Nellore, Prakasam, Guntur and Chittoor districts. But it seems to have created more problems with two Union Ministers Daggubati Purandeswari and Panabaka Lakshmi demanding Ongole and Tirupati (SC) seats respectively.
