The Congress cadres in Chittoor district are in upbeat mood over the visit of Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) Y.S. Sharmila to Nagari Assembly constituency slated for February 11 (Sunday). However, a section of the cadre is said to be ‘divided’ over the choice of the constituency for Ms. Sharmila’s maiden visit to Chittoor district after taking over the charge of the Andhra Pradesh unit of the Congress.
The APCC president is scheduled to take part in a roadshow, ‘Rachabanda’ and a public meeting in Nagari, which is being represented by Minister for Tourism R.K. Roja.
Senior Congress leaders in Chittoor admitted that the cadres in the district had been in a state of ‘political hibernation’ after the party’s debacle in 2014 elections till Ms. Sharmila took over as the APCC president. “The Congress has less than sixty activists in entire Nagari Assembly constituency and several of them continue to be silent,” a Congress leader told The Hindu.
A section of the cadres alleged that APCC working president P. Rakesh Reddy, who has taken the responsibility of organising Ms. Sharmila’s public meeting in Nagari, ‘did not bother’ to involve the party’s senior leaders in the undivided Chittoor district in the process. Some Congress leaders said that the party leadership initially thought of organising Ms. Sharmila’s visit to Punganur or Palamaner, which is considered a bastion of Minister for Forests Peddireddi Ramachandra Reddy. “However, the idea was dropped due to lingering fears over the success of the public meeting,” said a Congress leader on the condition of anonymity.
Meanwhile, the supporters of former Minister and Nagari’s erstwhile strongman Reddivari Changa Reddy deplored that the veteran Congress leader’s family had not been informed about Ms. Sharmila’s visit. They pointed out that despite ‘hurricane-like resentment’ against the Congress in 2014 over the State bifurcation, then MLA candidate for Nagari, R. Indira, daughter of the former Minister, polled more than 7,000 votes. In 2019, Congress nominee P. Rakesh Reddy got only a couple of thousand votes. “Given the facts, the APCC leadership should have given serious thought while selecting Nagari for Ms. Sharmila’s visit,” said an former sarpanch in Nindra mandal.
There is another version that Ms. Sharmila’s proposed visit to Nagari is aimed at countering the criticisms against her made by Ms. Roja. Except for Ms. Roja, no YSRCP senior leader in the district had targeted Ms. Sharmila for joining the Congress and criticising Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy on several counts. Though Minister Peddireddi Ramachandra Reddy also commented on Ms. Sharmila’s visit, it was considered “not personally intended and are mild in nature.”
‘Ground realities’
The YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) cadres maintain that Ms. Sharmila chose Nagari for her maiden visit to Chittoor district, considering some “ground realities.” Ms. Roja is known for facing severe criticisms among her party cadres in almost all mandals of Nagari constituency. Moreover, the efforts of Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy in patching up the differences between Ms. Roja and K. J. Shanta Kumari, the chairperson of Eediga Corporation and former Municipal Chairperson of Nagari, had failed, they said.
The Nagari constituency holds a substantial number of Christian families on whom Brother Anil, husbandof Ms. Sharmila, can wield a “powerful influence”, they added.
