Turncoats fail to get cadre support

Hyderabad: It’s not going to be a cakewalk for the Congress in the Lok Sabha elections as survey reports indicate that if some of the present candidates are not changed, the chances of winning polls would become difficult.

It is learnt that Secunderabad, Medak and Warangal are amongst the few constituencies which are facing problems. The nominees from these constituencies are the ‘carpet-baggers’ who had recently joined the party which has caused discomfort for the party cadre.

Kadiyam Kavya, the daughter of former Minister Kadiyam Srihari, got her name cleared within a day after joining the party. She is still facing difficulty in taking into confidence the local leaders.

Moreover the Warangal (SC reserved) is dominated by Madigas and she is finding it tough to get their support. The community was expecting tickets from the constituency. In Secunderabad, former BRS Minister and sitting MLA from Khairatabad Danam Nagender, who has full support of the Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, is facing dissent from the local party leaders.

Khairatabad Assembly contestant and Corporator P Vijaya Reddy, who had a face-off with him during Assembly polls, is unable to digest the fact that he is Secunderabad candidate. Amongst others who are not supportive of his candidature is Nampally’s Assembly contestant, Mohammed Feroz Khan. He remains in the news following his statement regarding AIMIM’s relationship with Congress. Danam’s issue was also discussed during the meeting convened by AICC general secretary (Org) K C Venugopal on Sunday.

From Medak, Neelam Madhu is the contestant who recently joined the party after leaving BSP. Earlier, he tried his luck from Patancheru during Assembly polls on a BSP ticket. He joined Congress when BRS denied him the ticket. He is reportedly not getting the support from within the party as the cadre feels that ‘parachute candidates’ were getting priority.

On the other hand, the party is yet to clear the names of remaining three seats Khammam, Karimnagar and Hyderabad. Hence the party is now conducting a fresh survey of the winning chances of the candidates.