Stage set for C K Babu’s entry into Congress

Chittoor: The entry of  former Congress MLA C K Jayachandra Reddy, widely known a  C K Babu into Congress is said to be imminent. Former Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy and PCC president N Raghuveera Reddy are trying hard to bring Babu back into party fold and are awaiting a green signal from AICC president Rahul Gandhi, according to reliable sources. 

On the other hand, there are also reports that YYRCP chief Jaganmohan Reddy has also decided to offer party ticket to Babu with a view to capture Chittoor seat. But  Babu is reportedly interested in joining the Congress only because he was elected as  MLA from  Chittoor for  five times earlier as its nominee. He was associated with the party for 40 years and cut his political teeth  as Chittoor  municipal vice-chairman .

C K Babu joined YSRCP before the last Assembly elections and made a futile bid for Assembly ticket. Peeved over the denial, he later joined BJP at the behest of party chief Amit Shah. In view of palpable anger among people over denial of Special Category Status to the state by BJP,  Babu turned his back on the saffron party and decided to contest as independent from Chittoor in the next elections. 

However, the situation changed after former Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy joined Congress recently. The party is has launched a drive at the initiative of new AICC in-charge for Andhra Pradesh affairs Oommen Chandy to bring back the leaders into party who deserted it after state bifurcation. Efforts are being made to convince all the former Congress legislators and MPs to return to party fold before the elections. Speaking to The Hans India here on Saturday ,  District Congress president   K Venugopal Reddy admitted that C K Babu would join the party at an appropriate time. 

“The party has decided to field its candidates in all the 14 Assembly constituencies in the district in the next elections. Both  TDP and BJP have failed to protect the interest of the people while YSRCP is being seen as party of corruption because of its leader’s image. If C K Babu contests  from Chittoor, he will certainly win with a huge majority,” said Venugopal Reddy. He appealed to all the former Congress bigwigs to return to the party to strengthen the hands of AICC president Rahul Gandhi and expressed confidence that the Congress would certainly come to power in the next elections . When contacted, C K Babu said that he would make no comments on the reports right now.