Days before the announcement of elections, both the TDP and YSRC were looking for a formidable candidate to field from Kurnool parliamentary segment. The strongman of district politics, Kotla Suryaprakash Reddy, was with the Congress, which is struggling to prove its existence in the State. It was at the last minute that Suryaprakash Reddy embraced the TDP, changing the political equations in the segment. TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu was quick to settle the long-standing feud between Kotla and KE families, to get an edge over his rivals.
However, sources said the patch up between the two families is not working on expected lines and deputy Chief Minister KE Krishna Murthy is keeping away from Kotla’s campaign meetings. Similarly, Kotla is said to be showing more interest to campaign at Kodumur, Pathikonda and Alur Assembly constituencies, his strongholds.
Even as YSRC candidate Dr S Sanjiv Kumar is a debutant, he cannot be ruled out totally as the party has won five out of seven Assembly seats under the constituency in 2014. In fact, Sanjiv Kumar is going ahead of his rival candidates when it comes to campaigning, more particularly through social media platforms.
Dr Parthasaradhi Valmiki of the BJP, Ali Ahmed Khan of the Congress and K Prabhakar Reddy of the CPM-Jana Sena combine are far behind when it comes to campaigning.
CMs’ segment
Kurnool Assembly constituency had given two chief ministers to the State including Damodaram Sanjeevaiah and Kotla Vijaya Bhaskara Reddy.