A senior executive from IBM, on a long leave from his office in Bangalore, sits at his friend’s home in a commercial locality and gives finishing touches to latter’s campaign agenda.
M. Srinivas joins hands with his apolitical friend Prasad Rao Selagamsetty, with whom he did MS in the United States. Mr. Rao, who left a lucrative career in the United States and shifted to Hyderabad to start an IT company in response to call by then Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu in 1999, moved to Visakhapatnam in 2004 to play a new innings as a social worker.
After turning sabbatical for sometime, he started a trust to serve the poor and the needy. Throwing weight behind him, several classmates and former colleagues of Mr. Rao with proven technical background, are in the city on a holiday to campaign for him. Mr. Rao, who is upset with failure of delivery mechanism, non-utilisation of government funds for the welfare of marginalised sections and relief to the general public from water, power and drainage woes, has decided to take a plunge into active politics now. He is contesting as an independent from Visakha North Assembly segment.
Mr. Srinivas said Mr. Rao for past one year had taken up several service activities by forming Selagamsetty Charitable Trust. He runs an old age home in his house at Madhuranagar on the busy Shankarmatham road. He has acquired land for constructing a hospital and old age home at Tarulawada near Anandapuram. Presently, he runs a 20-bed hospital.
“I want to approach each voter in my constituency and explain to all of them about my priorities to improve civic amenities and fight against corruption. My plus point is I am a local and politics is not business for me like other political leaders,” Mr. Rao told The Hindu.
