The Hindu : Front Page : Protests mark candidates' selection

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Mar 07, 2007
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Protests mark candidates' selection

Special Correspondent

Congress, TDP men resent denial of ticket for Council election

SWEARING BY THE MAHATMA: Rebel Seva Dal members protest in front of Gandhi Bhavan in Hyderabad on Tuesday demanding ticket for Council poll. — PHOTO: P.V. SIVAKUMAR

HYDERABAD: Protests and angry outbursts marked the selection of candidates by the Congress high command for the Legislative Council on Tuesday.

Complaints against senior leaders continued to flood the APCC headquarters and the Chief Minister's Office. Almost all elected representatives of the Congress in Rayadurg Assembly constituency of Anantapur district sent their resignations to APCC chief K. Keshava Rao resenting the denial of party ticket to DCC president Patil Venugopal Reddy to the Council.

In the TDP too, Nannapaneni Raj Kumari, a strong contender for the ticket from the MLAs quota, was thoroughly disappointed when her name did not figure in the list. She is believed to have conveyed her displeasure to party president N. Chandrababu Naidu. She was reportedly so upset at the party's attitude that she broke down several times while discussing it with her friends.

Senior leaders and favourites like Kadiam Srihari, Motkupalli Narasimhlu, Gutta Sukhender Reddy and J. R. Pushparaj too are believed to be unhappy at being ignored but they did not express their discontentment so openly.

Disgruntled minorities, Seva Dal workers and workers from the old city pitched tents in front of the APCC headquarters. Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy was confronted by Congress MLAs from Mahabubnagar led by D.K. Aruna, who vociferously complained against Union Minister S. Jaipal Reddy, alleging that he had 'ruined' the chances of the aspirants from the district.

They blamed Mr. Jaipal Reddy and Mallu Ravi, special representative of the State Government in New Delhi, for joining hands to benefit Nalgonda by allotting two seats to it. Other MLAs of the district G. Chinna Reddy, Swarna Sudhakar and Ch.Vamshi Krishna, however, disowned any association with them.

Trouble is brewing for the party in north Coastal Andhra too where not a single Congress leader figures in the list from the MLAs quota. Marketing Minister Botsa Satyanarayana returned from New Delhi a thoroughly unhappy man having failed to secure the candidature of his follower Neelakantha Naidu. Gorle Haribabu Naidu, a senior Congress leader of Srikakulam, remained in the fray as a rebel denting the chances of C. Babji, the official candidate.

The Congress party's travails in getting its official nominees from the Local Authorities Constituencies to the Council continue in coastal Andhra. Rebels have queered the pitch for the official nominees C. V. Sesha Reddy (Nellore) and G. Rudraraju (East Godavari).

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