The Congress on Wednesday suffered a jolt after former Nandyal MP Gangula Pratap Reddy and his brother Gangula Prabhakar Reddy announced that they were not interested in contesting as the party candidates for the prestigious Allagadda Assembly segment. The Gangula brothers, considered as strongmen of the party in the segment, had earlier expressed their inclination to contest and had even apprised Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy and PCC south Botsa Satyanarayana of their decision during the Budget Session of the Assembly.
The reason for their change of heart, according to sources close to the brothers, is the failure of the Congress leadership to fulfil their proposals of shifting some police officers from the Allagadda Assembly segment, and of according sanction of special funds under the Constituency Development Scheme. Both proposals had not materialised despite their reminders.
Thereafter, the brothers were disturbed as nothing of the sort would happen now as the model code of conduct has come into force. The code will not permit any fresh transfer of officials or release of special funds to particular constituencies.