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Malladi Krishna Rao plays it safe, files two nominations

S. Nadarajan

As an Independent and also as Congress nominee Confidence and caution are the vital guidelines to this legislator

Pondicherry: Malladi Krishna Rao, an Independent MLA from Yanam, who joined the ruling Congress on Thursday, filed his nominations seeking re-election from the constituency on Friday in keeping with (what he hinted during an informal conversation with The Hindu ) "ground realities" and after considering all possibilities.

Mr. Rao first got elected from Yanam (an enclave of Pondicherry in East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh) in 1996. He supported the then DMK led coalition government (the other partners then being the TMC and CPI) from outside.

He quit the post of MLA in 2000 to enable the present PCC leader P. Shanmugham to contest the poll from Yanam and regularise his membership in the Assembly. Mr. Shanmugham was the Chief Minister of Pondicherry, without being member of the Assembly, after there was a change of government following withdrawal of support by the TMC to the DMK Government led by R V. Janakiraman in March 2000.

Mr. Shanmugham who won the polls in Yanam held in May 2000. Mr Rao got re-elected as an Independent in 2001, when elections were held for the whole Union Territory that year. He volunteered to support from outside the Rangasamy-led government. Thus Mr. Rao has been known for supporting from outside the governments formed either by DMK or the Congress here, as his concern was that the constituency should develop. He was thus playing safe. He said that he had submitted nominations both as an Independent member and also as Congress nominee. True, there was no final decision as yet on the part of the Congress on number of seats it would get in the Union Territory to field candidates.

But Mr. Rao has gone ahead in anticipation of his being fielded in Yanam as a Congress candidate. At the same time he had also filed two nominations as an Independent, as he apparently wanted to be more cautious without taking the situation for granted. Thus confidence and caution are the vital guidelines to this 41-year-old Legislator

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