VIJAYAWADA: The Congress cadre in Krishna district is looking at the Cabinet reshuffle, which is round the corner, to usher in some much-needed changes in the party affairs in the district.

Party activists, of late, have been demoralised by the failure of leaders to rebut the onslaught of Telugu Desam Party MLAs Devineni Umamaheswara Rao and Kodali Sri Venkateswara Rao (Nani) in respect of issues like the Machilipatnam port and house site, respectively.

The cadre is also deeply disheartened by the `indifference' of the party leadership to the continuous squabbling between different groups, and feels that unless the party high command utilised the Cabinet reshuffle as an opportunity to make changes, the party's popularity would take a severe beating in the next two years in the run up to elections.

The two ministers from the district - Koneru Ranga Rao (Municipal Administration) and Pinnamaneni Venkateswara Rao (Higher Education) - are the primary targets of the party activists' anger.

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The cadre has no forum to give vent to its ire as the ministers hardly attend any party meetings.

The situation has deteriorated much after the district leaders stopped conducting even the statutory meetings of the district committee.

But in the case of exclusion of both or any of the ministers from the district, Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy will have a tough time in choosing a replacement as many claimants have their own strong points.

This is despite the already publicised norm that no first time MLA and no MLC would be accommodated.

Avanigadda MLA Mandali Buddha Prasad, who launched a movement to protect the interests of Krishna Delta, has always been a potential candidate for being accommodated in the Cabinet.

The Kapu community of Krishna, Guntur and West Godavari districts was disappointed when he did not make it to the ranks immediately after the Congress Government was formed.

Good chance

Kankipadu MLA Devineni Rajasekhar (Nehru) too used every opportunity that came his way to focus himself as a loyalist of the Chief Minister, countering the onslaught of TDP leaders both in the Legislative Assembly and in the district.

In the case of exclusion of Mr. Venkateswara Rao, the Chief Minister would find it `politically prudent' to include a person of the same Kamma community and Mr. Rajasekhar stands a good chance.

Incidentally, Mr. Rajasekhar and Mr. Buddha Prasad took the initiative of holding a press conference some time ago to rebut the TDP's charge that the Government was trying to shift the proposed Bandar port from Gilakaladindi creek to Goguleru creek.

It was only then that the two ministers came together to make a statement.

Even then, the complaint against the ministers was that they left many other issues raised by the TDP without refuting.

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