The visit of Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) president Y.S. Sharmila to Nellore district slated for January 27 (Saturday) has galvanised the party cadres in the undivided Nellore district.
Nellore District Congress Seva Dal key functionary Konda Anil Kumar said that the District Congress Committee (DCC) made elaborate arrangements for Ms. Sharmila’s visit. The APCC chief is scheduled to arrive at the Congress office, popularly known as Indira Bhavan, in the afternoon and hold a meeting with the party conveners at the mandal and constituency levels and senior cadres between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m., before proceeding to Tirupati.
Mr. Anil Kumar said that several retired government officials and former Congress cadres, who were currently with the other parties, would be joining the Congress in the presence of Ms. Sharmila.
The Congress cadres observed that after the rout of the party in the undivided Nellore district in 2014 and 2019 elections, the visit of Ms. Sharmila was being seen as a ‘harbinger of a hope’.
Dominant political families of the Nellore district, including the Anams, Maguntas, and Mekapatis, who used to be the backbone of the party before the State bifurcation are no longer sailing with the Congress. Prominent figures of these families had moved into the folds of the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) and the Telugu Desam Party (TDP). At this juncture, Ms. Sharmila’s prospects of strengthening the party on the “Soil of Simhapuri” is going to be an arduous task, the Congress sympathizers said.
