Srikakulam: Congress candidates hope to increase vote share

Srikakulam : Congress candidates are pinning hopes on an increase in their vote share in the coming elections. The party paid a heavy price in 2014 and 2019 elections following the bifurcation of the state. This time, former CM and senior Congress leader late YS Raja Sekhara Reddy’s daughter YS Sharmila is leading the charge of the party as APCC president. Along with her, some Congress senior leaders are joining the campaign and are trying to cash in on the image of Rajasekhara Reddy as he still command respect among people.

Congress candidates are also trying to take advantage of dissidence in both YSRCP and TDP in all Assembly constituencies. In Amadalavalasa, Congress senior leader Sanapala Annaji Rao who is the party candidate has good relations with all village level leaders and cadres in the constituency. He hold many positions in the party for the last 40 years. He has been striving to revive the party at village level in the constituency.

In Tekkali Assembly constituency, former Central minister Dr Killi Kruparani is contesting on party ticket. She recently resigned from the YSRCP and joined Congress. As Congress senior leader, she has an image on her own in Tekkali. Unable to bear the humiliating conditions created by YSRCP Srikakulam MP candidate Perada Tilak and Tekkali MLA candidate Duvvada Srinivas, she came out of the party and is targetting YSRCP vote bank here.

In Palasa, Congress candiate Majji Trinadha Babu came from the family of senior leaders Majji Tulasi Das and Majji Narayana Rao. These two leaders still have good image among people in Palasa constituency and as their successor, Trinadha Babu is making efforts to get votes.

These three candidates, Sanapala Annaji Rao, Killi Kruparani and Majji Trinadha Babu, belong to Kalinga community and have good influence among community voters. Thus they are able to split general and community votes. Another advantage for these candidates is that Kalinga community is the largest vote share in the three Assembly seats of Amadalavalasa, Tekkali and Palasa.