Congress candidates withdrawing from Assembly elections was unfortunate but there was no need to worry, APCC president N. Raghuveera Reddy said here on Thursday.
Congress candidates from Kalyandurgam in Anantapur, a seat held by Mr. Raghuveera Reddy, and from Narsipatnam in Visakhapatnam district withdrew from the contest on Wednesday. Asked about this development at a press conference here, Mr. Raghuveera Reddy said he had sought reports from the district units of the party and it should be verified whether they had done on their own or were forced to do so, but did not elaborate. He pointed out that 147 out of the 175 seats for the Assembly were allotted to new faces, which was a happy development.
On the flak the party was receiving on the bifurcation issue, Mr. Raghuveera Reddy said that the party had left the field to the Telugu Desam and YSR Congress for the last six to seven months but of late it had been able to start convincing the people that all parties were responsible for bifurcation of the State and that the Congress could get a good deal for AP and even made Centre include many more benefits for the region. “We will convince them more during the next two weeks”, he said. He was confident that the Congress would secure majority in AP Assembly and win most of the MP seats.
The APCC chief said for the good of the people of Andhra Pradesh, Congress should form Governments in AP, Telangana and Delhi. He continued his criticism of Telugu Desam president N. Chandrababu Naidu and YSR Congress president Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy, the former for allying with the BJP now after saying in the past that alliance with BJP was a historic blunder, and the latter for trying to build a fool’s paradise through his promises. Both parties now turned into corporate entities and sold ticket, he said.
The APCC president announced that party president Sonia Gandhi or her son Rahul Gandhi would address an election meeting here.
Mr. Raghuveera Reddy condoled the death of Allagedda MLA and YSR Congress leader Bhooma Shobha Nagi Reddy on Thursday due to injuries she had suffered in a road accident on Wednesday night.
Rajya Sabha Member T. Subbairami Reddy, APCC vice-president Vatti Vasantha Kumar, and party’s candidates for the Lok Sabha and Assembly were present.
