Congress eyes opening of account in Prakasam

Ongole : The Indian National Congress (INC), which announced its candidates for all of the 12 Assembly constituencies in the erstwhile Prakasam district, is strongly hopeful of opening an account with at least one seat.

The Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee and its president YS Sharmila Reddy announced BR Gouse as their candidate in Ongole, Sripati Satish for Kondapi, Kadiri Bhavani for Kanigiri, Sk Saida for Markapuram, Putluri Kondareddy for Darsi, Budala Ajitharao for Yerragondapalem and Pagadala Ramaswamy for Giddalur under the Ongole parliament constituency.

In the Bapatla parliament constituency, the Congress is fielding Amanchi Krishnamohan for Chirala, Palaparthi Vijesh Raj for Santhanuthalapadu, Adusumalli Kishore for Addanki and Nallagandla Siva Lakshmi Jyothi for Parchur Assembly constituencies, while giving the ticket to Sk Gouse Mohiddin to contest from Kandukur in Nellore parliament constituency.

Of these 12 candidates, the Congress Party is confident that Amanchi Krishnamohan would win from Chirala, while the winning chances for Palaparthi Vijesh Raj from Santhanuthalapadu and Budala Ajitha Rao from Yerragondapalem are high.

Amanchi Krishnamohan recently rejoined the Congress Party, after a brief stint with TDP and YSRCP. He still has a huge follower base in Chirala, and is very much hopeful about his supporters and the cadre of the Congress party. His main competitor is Karanam Venkatesh from the YSRCP.

Meanwhile, Budala Ajitha Rao was an active leader in the TDP until recently. As her candidature was denied again and again, she deserted the TDP and joined the Congress Party. She too has a personal follower base in Yerragondapalem, who are against Guduri Erixion Babu, the TDP candidate.

Though the YSRCP candidate, Tatiparthi Chandrasekar, is leading in the race, Ajitha Rao banks on her status as local candidate, while the remaining two major candidates are non-locals.

Palaparthi Vijesh Raj, the candidate for the Santhanuthalapadu Assembly constituency, is the son of former MLA Palaparthi David Raju.

David Raju, who entered politics from the local body elections, has followers in his native constituency and is expecting that his son will make a mark in these elections so that he will have brighter opportunities in the Congress Party in the future.