Andhra Pradesh - Vijayawada   

Ilapuram is Congress nominee for council

Special Correspondent

Says: I will reach every voter in the constituency

VIJAYAWADA: Recognition has finally come to Ilapuram Venkaiah, the veteran Congress leader who remained a staunch loyalist of the party for almost five decades, in the form of a ticket to contest in the elections to the Legislative Council from the Local Authorities Constituency (LAC) of Krishna district. With the party high command announcing on Sunday his candidature for the sole seat that it can hope to win from the LAC of Krishna district, Mr. Venkaiah, who was in Hyderabad, sounded relieved when contacted for his reaction over telephone.

"I'm glad the party has recognised my services. Yes, it is a fact that I wanted to be included in the list of members to be elected by MLAs. But that has not materialised for some reason. Still, it is not a problem and I will reach every voter in the local authorities' constituency of the district for supporting me," the 72-year-old Mr. Venkaiah said.

Mr. Venkaiah, who is currently co-chairman of the Other Backward Classes (OBC) department of the Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee, hails from Kummari community and has had a humble beginning in life.

By taking up various trade and business activities, Mr. Venkaiah flourished and opened Hotel Ilapuram at Gandhinagar in the early 90s. The hotel has, since then, been the hub of party activities during elections and other special occasions. He is also the managing partner of IV Enterprises, a corporate body, that manages a function hall, a restaurant and a shopping complex.

Mr. Venkaiah contested the 1999 general elections to the Assembly from the Vijayawada East Assembly constituency and lost to BJP's Kota Srinivasa Rao by a narrow margin. He then secured 50,971 votes. He could not succeed in his attempt to secure the party ticket during the last elections to the Assembly (2004) from the same constituency.

Smooth sailing

The Congress, which claims to have on its side 560 members of the local bodies out of the total 1,102 in the district, should have a smooth sailing in getting Mr. Venkaiah elected, if no cross-voting takes place. The Telugu Desam, which announced the candidature of Yalamanchili Babu Rajendra Prasad, is likely to bag the second seat from the Krishna district LAC.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Pocketing the points but not the plaudits
State gives nod to shift Bandar port: TDP MLA
VHT plants to boost mango exports
Water for rabi up to March 31
Ilapuram is Congress nominee for council
Novel programme from UDA
Yellow carpet
Drive to curb traffic violations
In Vijayawada Today
Reader's Mail

Copyright © 2007, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu