Former Minister Pinnamaneni Venkateswara Rao has been announced as the Congress candidate for the Krishna District Cooperative Central Bank (KDCCB) president post election here on Wednesday.
Minister for Secondary Education Kolusu Parathasarathy made the announcement at a press conference here on Wednesday.
There are no indications of the Congress ‘confining’ the Primary Agricultural Cooperative Society (PACS) presidents in a camp, but Mr. Pinnamaneni has invited PACS chiefs amicable to him for breakfast in Vijayawada Club on Thursday morning.
The Congress, which was not in a hurry to announce the official candidate, was forced to make public the name to douse the heat being generated by former UDA chairman Kanchi Rama Rao. Mr Rama Rao, who was elected president of the Tiruvuru Primary Agricultural Cooperative Society (PACS), jumped into the fray saying that he had been working for the party for nearly five decades.
Mr. Rama Rao even asked PCC secretary Botcha Satyanarayana and Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy for their blessings only to be told that Mr Venkateswara Rao had been selected as the official candidate. Mr. Rama Rao has since announced that he was withdrawing from the race and would work for the victory of Mr. Venkateswara Rao. Several heavy weights in the Congress are backing Mr. Venkateswara Rao. Many of these leaders believe that his caste would help him get the vote of several PACS presidents who do not sympathise with the Congress party.
They also believe that it would be very difficult for Mr. Rama Rao to win considering the fact that the votes of several PACS president who sympathise with the Telugu Desam Party were needed for him to get elected.
Mr Venkateswara Rao, however, can pull it off because his family is highly influential in the delta mandals.
