Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) publicity committee chairman K. Chiranjeevi, who enjoys a huge fan following, got a tumultuous welcome during his ‘bus yatra’ in the city.
The actor, who merged his fledgling Praja Rajyam Party with the Congress after his failure to do an NTR in the 2009 elections, dwarfed all other Congress leaders, including Union Ministers J.D. Seelam and Panabaka Lakshmi, with his followers thronging the dais to greet him.
The big question is whether this is enough to stop the rot in the Congress, which has been finding it difficult even to field candidates in elections to urban and local bodies in Prakasam district.
The Congress seems to be not in the reckoning either in the polls to the six urban civic bodies on March 30 or in the ZPTC and MPTC elections on April 6, as the fight is expected to be mainly between the TDP and the YSRC.
Putting a brave face on the exodus of senior and second-rung leaders from Congress, the megastar-turned-politician exhorted people to teach a lesson to deserters and Opposition parties, including the BJP, TDP and the YSRC, which had forced the Congress to take the inevitable decision to divide the State.
Eight of the 11 ruling party MLAs and Congress MP from Ongole Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy have also quit the ruling party, looking for greener pastures ahead of the simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and the Assembly.
The Congress could find candidates only for 50 of the 145 wards in the two municipalities of Chirala and Markapur and four nagara panchayats of Addanki, Chimakurthy, Giddalur and Kanigiri. Its position was worse in the local body elections, with only 17 ZPTC and 123 MPTC candidates displaying courage to contest on Congress ticket in 55 ZPTCs and 780 MPTCs.
