Congress lays claim to most seats in district

Kothagudem: Though the parties have ganged up to defeat  the ruling party TRS, they are unable to solve the seat sharing problem and decide who will contest which seat, particularly in Kothagudem district as every member of Mahakutamy is claiming stronghold in all  Assembly segments.

Therefore, relation between the alliance leaders is strained due to seat allotment in the district. According to sources, the Congress party leaders are demanding the alliance partners to leave Kothagudem, Pinapaka, and Yellandu, out of five seats of the district to them. They are ready to spare the remaining two seats--Aswarao pet and Bhadracham to the TDP.

Interestingly, among the five seats in the district, four are reserved seats (ST). The remaining one seat that is Kothagudem is a general seat for which parties are claiming their hold on.

Senior Congress leader Vanama Venkateswara Rao told the Hans India that he developed Kothagudem when he was a minister in the Congress government.  The party has hold in the coal town and industrial areas therefore Mahakutami will allot the constituency to the Congress, he claimed. 

On the other hand, another alliance partner, CPI has strongly contested the Congress’ claim. Senior CPI leader and former MLA Kunamneni Sambhasiva Raso said that the party deserves to get the seat as it has influence among the Singareni workers. Particularly, it has strong hold in the trade unions. He hoped the CPI will contest this election on Mahakutami ticket from this constituency.

Another Assembly segments are Bhadrachalm, Pinapaka, Yeallandhu and Aswarao Pet.  Congress is also laying claim on Yellandhu segment as party leaders vying for the party ticket. As many as 35 Congress leaders have applied for ticket from this Assembly segment alone. The TRS party is fielding the sitting MLA K Kankaiah from this seat.

In Aswarao Pet and Bhadrachalm the TRS party has given tickets to the sitting MLAs Tati Venkatewswarlu and Dr.T.Venkat Rao. The Congress and TDP leaders have also asked for the tickets. But there are no competitions for tickets from these seats.  The CPM-BLF will field former MP Dr. M. Babu Rao from Bhadrachalam seat.

In this scenario, when the TRS has announced the names of all contestants, it will be interesting to see how the Mahakutam decides the candidates who can challenge the ruling party nominees in the elections.