The Hindu : Congress to field a novice against ex-TDPP leader

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Mar 26, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Congress to field a novice against ex-TDPP leader

By Our Staff Reporter

SRIKAKULAM, MARCH 25. The Congress has decided to field a political greenhorn against the Telugu Desam Parliamentary Party (TDPP) leader in the dissolved House, K. Yerran Naidu, from Srikakulam Lok Sabha constituency. It is also for the first time that the Congress is fielding a woman candidate for the Lok Sabha seat, its stronghold during the late Boddepalli Rajagopala Rao's marathon tenure. All along, the Congress has been looking for a suitable candidate to take on the TDP strongman, with Kaniti Viswanadham, his rival in the last election and a two-time MP, staying away from the contest.

It has turned out that all aspirants for the Srikakulam Lok Sabha seat are first-timers with hardly any electoral experience. A doctor from Visakhapatnam says he has the blessings of party top leaders. However, Hanumantu Kiran Kumar, a young businessman, and son of the District Congress Committee (DCC) vice-president, Krishna Rao, is a strong contender for ticket.

Mr. Kiran Kumar, and other local leaders have also strongly opposed nomination of any "outsider'' for the Srikakulam Lok Sabha seat. For sometime after the ticket finalisation process began, talks did the rounds that Mr. Kiran Kumar would be pitted against Mr. Yerran Naidu.

The Congress nominee announced yesterday, Krupa Rani, a doctor, and her husband, who Ramamohana Rao, had aspired for the Srikakulam Lok Sabha as well, for the Tekkali Assembly seat. The doctor couple had joined the Congress during the conclusion of the former CLP leader, Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy's padayatra at Ichhapuram last year.

Mr. Yerran Naidu, whose name has been cleared in the TDP's first list for the Lok Sabha, will be fighting his fourth election in a row from Srikakulam, having won for the first time in 1996. With a novice facing him, it will be a true test of his hold over the constituency, whether it will be anti-incumbency factor and or people will vote on the basis of issues. The TDP is facing dissidence over re-nomination of members in the dissolved House at Ichhapuram and Tekkali Assembly segments and lack of unanimity at Narsannapeta, the lone Congress seat in the dissolved Assembly. A clear picture will emerge only after announcement of nominees there.

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Andhra Pradesh