KHAMMAM: This election season will be a test of loyalty for CPI leader and former MLA Puvvada Nageswara Rao. While his son and TRS party candidate Puvvada Ajay Kumar and the Grand Alliance’s TDP candidate Nama Nageswara Rao fight it out for the Khammam Assembly seat, all eyes are on the CPI leader.
A top gun in the CPI, Nageswara Rao has mighty influence among the party cadre and a considerable section of the constituency’s citizens. Though Rao has reportedly decided not to take part in the election hustings, a few TDP and Congress leaders have expressed their lack of trust in the leader as his only son is contesting in the elections.
Both the contenders belong to the Kamma community, which would mean that votes from within the community are bound to get divided. The candidates are therefore leaving no stones unturned in reaching out to each and every section of voters in the constituency. The Grand Alliance candidate even met Puvvada Nageswara Rao and appealed for his support in the campaigns. The CPI leader, however, claiming a conflict of interests, declined to participate in either of the candidates’ campaigns. According to sources, Rao has been contemplating the reaction of the party cadre if he actually decided to campaign for his son.
He also reportedly doesn’t want to campaign on behalf of the Grand Alliance, fearing his son’s reaction. But as per a few anonymous sources in the Grand Alliance, Nageswara Rao is learnt to have been clandestinely putting in a good word for his son whenever an opportunity presents itself. “The CPI party and our entire cadre will take part in the campaigns and support the Grand Alliance candidate,” said CPI party district secretary B Hemantha Rao.