Putting an end to the speculation, the Congress has finally named Rudraraju Sreedevi as its candidate for the by-election to be held to the Tirupati Assembly constituency.
Quoting the AICC and PCC authorities, the Chittoor District Congress Committee president K.Venugopal Reddy announced the candidature of Ms. Sreedevi through a communiqué on Sunday, adding that she would file the nomination on Tuesday morning. The name of Ms. Sreedevi emerged, even as the media and the TDP were guessing half a dozen other names.
Ms. Sreedevi had made the headlines by demolishing the tombstone (Samadhi) built by TDP leaders for AICC president Sonia Gandhi in Tirupati, when the State was facing the heat of the bifurcation on the Seemandhra side.
The election is an irony of sorts as Mr. Venkatramana had jumped from the Congress into the TDP bandwagon ahead of the 2014 general elections, while Ms. Sreedevi, an active TDP worker for over a decade, jumped into the Congress much earlier. Thanks to her association the with DWCRA activities, she had impressive contact at the grassroots level.
Her decision to join the Congress came with the grouse that the TDP leadership had failed in recognising her contribution to the party.
