Karimnagar Congress faces a piquant situation

KARIMNAGAR: Congress is trying its best to bring back the lost glory of the party in the Karimnagar district. For the last three terms, the party has not been able to send its representative to the Assembly from Karimnagar, leaving the cadre dismayed. Every single Congress activist is keen that a party leader represents the district in either the Assembly or Parliament.

The problem is that the party has too many contenders for tickets. While elections are nowhere on the horizon, there has been a flurry of activity in the district Congress of late -- former minister late M Satyanarayana Rao’s grandson M Rohit has entered and is trying to make a mark for himself.

Meanwhile, city Congress president K Narender Reddy is also flexing his political muscle, hoping to bag the party ticket. They have to contend with former MP and senior leader Ponnam Prabhakar, who is keen to once again represent Karimnagar in the Lok Sabha. Prabhakar has already started getting in touch with the people, leading the party’s padayatra in the constituency.

However, all these leaders are eyeing the Karimnagar Lok Sabha seat; the party simply lacks a strong leader who is willing to contest for the Karimnagar Assembly seat. A recent survey revealed the situation in the party, highly placed sources said. Those willing to contest for the Karimnagar Assembly seats face tough odds -- not only should they be acceptable to the party seniors, they should also be able to breach the Muslim and Hindu community vote banks if they hope to win.  

Lack of such a leader has left BC Welfare Minister Gangula Kamalakar sitting pretty despite having won a third consecutive time. He is confident of making it four-in-a-row since neither the Congress nor the BJP is able to find a candidate who can win against him.