Rankled over the reported selection of S. Samma Rao for the Parkal Assembly constituency by-election, the Congress workers and supporters of Government Chief Whip G. V. Ramana Reddy staged protest demonstrations in the district.
Mr. Ramana Reddy was lobbying for the party ticket of Parkal to his wife Gandra Jyothi, a senior functionary who was also a corporator once.
However, the Congress party high command chose S. Samma Rao who till recently was in the Telugu Desam Party. He resigned from the TDP when he got the hint about his candidature from the Congress leadership.
Mr. Reddy who was the DCC president since a decade is representing Bhupalpalli Assembly constituency. He hoped the party high command would allot Parkal ticket to his wife Jyothi.
According to party sources, the party high command favoured a candidate from the BC community as the segment has large number of voters belonging to that community.
Unhappy over the reported decision a large number of Congress workers and supporters of Gandra Jyothi staged a demonstration in front of district Congress office on Tuesday.
To meet Kiran
The supporters of Mr Ramana Reddy staged a demonstration at Hanamkonda chowrastha late Monday night.
They have also decided to meet the Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy to convey their displeasure over the selection of Mr Samma Rao.
They also allege that Mr Samma Rao deserted the party at a crucial juncture in the party and helped the TDP bag the Zilla Parishad chairman post. The protests were led by senior party functionary Veesam Surender Reddy and others who strongly opposed the candidates of Mr Samma Rao.