ELURU: Pradesh Congress Committee president K. Kesava Rao's electioneering here on Monday for party MLC candidate for the local bodies' constituency Kambhala Ganga Bhavani was marked by a smouldering intra-party discontentment from the party rank and file on the twin issues -- non-representation of West Godavari district in the State Cabinet and imposition of `outsiders' for the local bodies constituency of the Godavari districts.

The APCC chief faced a boisterous crowd during his courtesy visit at the residence of Denduluru MLA Maganti Venkateswara Rao, which raised slogans against non-inclusion of Mr. Babu in the State Cabinet. Later, the APCC leader had a similar experience at a party gathering of the members of MPTCs, ZPTCs and eight municipalities in the district. Guru Suri Babu, party senior functionary and councillor of Tadepalligudem Municipal Council, expressed his anguish over the district being at the receiving end in terms of accommodation in the Cabinet. Drawing a parallel to the previous TDP regime, he recalled that the district had three berths in the Cabinet during that period.

Party blamed

Pitani Satyanarayana, party MLA from Penugonda, attributed the presence of a Congress rebel in the election fray for the local bodies constituency to the party allegedly turning a blind eye to the aspirations and problems of the members of PRIs and Nagarapalikas belonging to the party. "There is a strong feeling among members of the local bodies that the Congress has ignored them in issue of the MLC ticket. The party leadership needs to understand their feeling from the right perspective and try to give them due recognition in the future," he observed.

An MPTC member from Pasiveda said the party top brass should have chosen somebody from within the local bodies as the MLC candidate so that the problems pertaining to PRIs and Nagarapalikas would have got an adequate focus in the council.

Incidentally, Gangabhavani, also the president of the Andhra Pradesh State Mahila Congress, is considered to be an outsider for the local bodies constituency on the ground that she is not a member in any of the municipality or in any Panchayat Raj Institution.

Meanwhile, Congress rebel candidate B.B. Venkateswara Rao, a member of Madepalli Mandal Parishad Territorial Constituency, is giving anxious moments to both the Congress and the TDP official nominees since both of them are considered to be outsiders in the eyes of the members of the local bodies.

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