Andhra Pradesh - Karimnagar   

Congress hopes to be sixth time lucky

By K.M.Dayashankar

KARIMNAGAR, APRIL 18. The Karimnagar Assembly constituency is all set to witness a multi-cornered contest between the Congress, Telugu Desam Party, a Congress rebel contesting as an independent and the Telangana Rashtra Samithi dissident contesting on the party symbol. The battle lines are drawn between the Congress candidate and former APCC president, M. Satyanarayana Rao, the TDP candidate, Gandra Nalini, a political novice, the Congress rebel, Ponnam Prabhakar who is playing the backward classes (BC) card, and the TRS rebel, K. Mruthyunjayam, who is contesting on the party official symbol of `car'.

Since the advent of the Telugu Desam Party, the Congress has not won from here in the five elections held so far. Mr. Satyanarayana Rao, has won thrice from the Karimnagar Parliament constituency, but was defeated in the Karimnagar Assembly constituency in 1989. This time, Mr. Rao has claimed the credit for the Lower Manair Dam (LMD) reservoir in Karimnagar town, has been assuring voters relief from water problems.

He is also banking on the minorities' votes, which are about 40,000. To gain the minorities support, he had roped in the AICC secretary, Ghulam Nabi Azad and organised a meeting here recently. The TDP district president, G. Venkateshwara Rao's wife, Gandra Nalini, is banking on the developmental works taken up by the Government here. Ms. Nalini is banking on support from women. The two former legislators of the party, K. Devender Rao and J. Chandrashekhar Rao too campaigned with Ms. Nalini. She had also roped in film stars, Vijayashanthi, Suman and Sharath Babu to seek votes on her behalf. The Congress rebel candidate and APCC media cell coordinator, Ponnam Prabhakar, who is wooing the backward classes (BC), has become a cause of concern for both the Congress and TDP as it may lead to split in votes.

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