Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy's visit to Tirupati on Monday assumes importance coming as it does in the context of the by-election due for the seat, after the chief of the erstwhyile Praja Rajyam, Chiranjeevi, vacated it following his induction into the Rajya Sabha by the Congress after he merged his outfit en bloc with it.
Kiran's visit is also expected to heighten the political activities in the temple city with the race for the seat having already started and the contenders from the Congress as well as the former Praja Rajyam vying with each other to secure the seat for themselves. While the Mines and Geology Minister, Galla Arunakumari, is moving heaven and earth to secure the seat for her son, Galla Jayadev, for his electoral debut, Tirupati's former MLA, Venkatramana flaunting his ‘seniority and old-horse' card, is exuding confidence that he would be the natural choice of the high command in the crucial election in the surcharged political atmosphere in the State. What adds an intriguing dimension to the whole race is the strong claim being made for the seat by the erstwhile Praja Rajyam leaders and close followers of Chiru, on the ground that they are the legitimate claimants for the seat being Chiru's seat until he vacated it last week. They have also held out a concealed warning to the Congress leadership that if a non-PRP candidate or a candidate not approved by Chiranjeevi is selected for the seat unilaterally, they would not hesitate to work against his success. But there is a general feeling that in view of the caste equation and close relationship between the PCC president B. Satyanarayana and Chiranjeevi, with the former expected to visit Tirupati next week, would not only plump for a candidate from the same caste but from the PRP team. The reported cold-war between the Chief Minister and the PCC president is also expected to make the selection of candidate for the seat a delicate yet interesting issue.