The minister for agriculture, Mr Y.S. Vivekananda Reddy, and his son-in-law, Mr Narreddy Rajasekhar Reddy, have left for Delhi to meet the central leadership of the Congress in a bid to finalise their candidatures for the Pulivendula Assembly and the Kadapa Lok Sabha byelections respectively. Though they claim they were in Delhi to
meet some Central ministers, including the health minister, Mr Gulam Nabi Azad, in connection with pending projects in Kadapa district, sources said they met Mr Ahmed Patel and briefed him on the by-poll situation. They are also planning to meet the Congress president, Mrs Sonia Gandhi, before they return on Wednesday.
Mr Vivekananda Reddy has almost declared himself as the Congress candidate for the Pulivendula Assembly seat and his son-in-law, Mr N. Rajasekhar Reddy, as the Kadapa Lok Sabha candidate. But unconfirmed reports from Kadapa suggest it would be in the interests of the Congress if Mr Vivekananda Reddy and not his son-in-law, is given the Kadapa Lok Sabha seat since he has won the seat twice earlier.
There are also reports that the chief minister, Mr Kiran Kumar Reddy, was told by some leaders that as the biennial election to the lone MLC seat, which is presently held by Mr Vivekananda Reddy, will have to be held before March 29 and before the Kadapa by-polls, it would be better to field him again to allow him to continue as minister in the Cabinet.
However, Mr Vivekananda Reddy himself is keen to be the MLC candidate and for his son-in-law to be the Lok Sabha candidate.
It has also been suggested to the chief minister that the Congress should not put up its candidate in Pulivendula but allow Ms Y.S. Vijayalakshmi, to win, and concentrate instead on the Kadapa Lok Sabha seat in order to defeat Mr Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy. This way the Congress can show it has no animus against her and it would be a tribute to the late leader.