Congress gets another blow with Nallari's exit

Tirupati: The Congress party which has once ruled the country and the State has been gradually disappearing from the political scene in the State as well as in the erstwhile Chittoor district.

With several leaders quitting the party one after another since the bifurcation of the State, the mere existence of the party has become a question mark in the district. The latest addition to the list was the last Chief Minister of combined AP, Nallari Kiran Kumar Reddy of Valmikipuram in the Chittoor district, who sent in his resignation from the primary membership of the party to AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge.

After the party faced a big blow in the 2014 elections by losing deposits in all the constituencies, the leaders in different constituencies have left the party and joined other parties. Among the former public representatives, former Tirupati MP Chinta Mohan and former Madanapalle MLA Shajahan Basha and a few others were there in the party.

Of them, except Chitna Mohan, no other leader was in the news during the last nine years. Accordingly, the party performance also has not improved by an iota and its candidates have lost deposits in every election since 2014 and there was a strong opinion in the political circles that it may not revive at least in the next 10 years.

May be due to such a prediction, former MLA Shajahan Basha who was once the follower of former Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, had quit the Congress and joined the TDP in the presence of its national general secretary Nara Lokesh last week.

Now, former Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy also left the party amid wide speculations of his joining the BJP soon. He was inactive in the Congress party for quite some time.

Though his family has a strong base in the party, he left it after bifurcation and floated Jai Samaikyandhra party (JSP) which showed dismal performance in 2014 elections. Later, he again joined the Congress but was out of active politics.

Kiran Kumar Reddy's brother Kishore Kumar Reddy who was the real strength behind Kiran, has joined the TDP before 2019 elections itself and contested from Piler constituency. Another Congress leader from Chittoor CK Babu was not seen in active politics in the recent past and in other constituencies there is neither leadership nor cadres for the party. However, Bathaiah Naidu has been making news now and then in Srikalahasti.

But, Chinta Mohan has been actively touring the district and even the state making a lone battle though there was not much response. Despite having such a senior leader, the party could not even reinvent itself and there were no efforts to encourage the leadership in any constituency which left a void everywhere.

A Congress leader commented that the party has made a self-goal and was not trying to revive the party. Instead of encouraging the leadership at various levels, there were efforts to demoralise them which has become suicidal for the party.