Andhra Pradesh - Vijayawada   

Vijayawada West: Congress in a fix over candidate

By Our Special Correspondent

VIJAYAWADA, APRIL 4. With the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) fielding a Brahmin candidate from the Vijayawada-East Assembly constituency, the Congress leadership appears to be in a fix over the selection of the candidate from the constituency.

The Vijayawada-East constituency is one of the key constituencies where the Brahmin vote will decide the fate of the candidates. Of the over 2.1 lakh voters in the constituency, more than 45,000, constituting approximately 23 per cent of the electorate, are from the Brahmin community.

The constituency was earlier represented by slain Kapu leader, Vangaveeti Mohana Ranga Rao, in 1985 and his wife, Vangaveeti Ratna Kumari, who was elected twice in 1989 and 1994.

But the BJP registered its first victory from the constituency when its candidate, Kota Srinivasa Rao, hailing from the Brahmin community, won with a convincing majority of over 6,000 votes against his Congress rival, Ilapuram Venkaiah.

However, bowing down to the pressure from the Telugu Desam Party against re-nominating Mr. Kota Srinivasa Rao, who the TDP leaders claimed, failed to impress the electorate and strengthen the two parties, the BJP decided to change its nominee from the constituency.

The party initially toyed with the idea of fielding the party's State unit treasurer, V. Rangaprasad, hailing from the Kamma community.

But, the dominant presence of the Brahmin community in the constituency has compelled the party leadership to field, Y.N.K. Jaganmohan Raju, hailing from the community.

The BJP's decision has obviously forced the Congress leadership, which is yet to announce its candidate from the constituency to take stock of the situation before embarking on the candidate selection.

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