AP Congress president Y S Sharmila is likely to contest the Parliament elections from Kadapa. Sources say that the Congress Central leadership had asked Sharmila to file nominations for the Kadapa MP seat.
Sharmila is disinterested in contesting for the Parliament seat. She is more interested in contesting for the Assembly as she wants her presence in the state Assembly. She also believes that the Assembly election would give her some chance to campaign for the party candidates in some pockets.
The Congress is contesting all 175 Assembly seats in the coming elections. Though the party had held talks with the two Left parties on alliance, talks did not go forward on these lines. The Left parties have not come back to the Congress seeking seats.
Sharmila wants to field 175 candidates for the Assembly and 25 candidates for parliament seats. The party had received applications from aspirants across the state. A large number of aspirants have made their applications seeking tickets.
Quite interestingly, there are at least three to four candidates from some constituencies giving it a tough time for the party leadership to pick the right candidate. Though they know that the party has no chance of winning the election, the aspirants want to try their luck.
Meanwhile, the party wants Sharmila to try at Kadapa. The party wants to get the benefit of former minister Y S Vivekananda Reddy’s murder. There is a split in the Y S family in Kadapa and the Congress plans to get the benefit.
There is also a strong rumor that the opposition TDP is planning to field either Vivekananda Reddy’s wife Sowbhagyam or daughter Dr Karreddi Sunitha Reddy. The TDP is weighing the pros and cons of fielding either of them either on the party ticket or as independent.
The TDP is calculating the advantages of fielding either wife or daughter or supporting them from outside. The party is yet to make a call on the issue.