Date:16/03/2004 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2004/03/16/stories/2004031614810500.htm

Andhra Pradesh

APCC poll panel screens candidates

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD, MARCH 15. The Pradesh Election Committee (PEC) of the APCC met here today to screen the candidates to shortlist the aspirants' names to be sent to New Delhi.

There were protests in the party over inclusion of names at the last minute and absence of names in some cases.

Groups of aspirants from Amalapuram, Pithapuram, Rajahmundry and particularly, the MLAs of the recently dissolved House from Telangana kept mounting pressure on the party leadership to secure their places in the list. Former MLAs like Bomma Venkateswar Rao and Juvvadi Ratnakar Rao apprised the APCC about the aspirations of local leadership in Telangana districts.

Though the exercise is a mere formality, there were fears over the seats to be sacrificed at the altar of alliances, to the Telangana Rashtra Samithi and the Communist parties.

A group of Congress leaders from Mungode in Nalgonda district brought to the notice of the PCC president the alleged highhanded behaviour of the former MLA and the present aspirant for the seat, P.Goverdhan Reddy, in threatening the rival aspirants.

V.Purushottam Reddy, also from Nalgonda district, was not happy facing resistance from his own workers. The two aspirants are in a piquant situation as the seat-sharing talks with the Left may affect their chances. Meanwhile, ticket seekers lined up in front of the houses of prominent leaders at Hyderabad with their supporters pressing their case.

Some of the ticket seekers were intelligent enough to approach the PEC members with slips containing the constituency numbers and names, but a few like Baiju of Dhoolpet who approached AICC secretary, T.Subbarami Reddy, seeking recommendation of their name had not even applied for the ticket. The PEC members handed over their preferences to the PCC president in the evening at a second meeting.

The hour-long meeting witnessed drama with the AICC secretary, V. Hanumantha Rao, reportedly faulting the PCC president over the process adopted for preparing the lists. He was unhappy over the lack of transparency, and accused the APCC of giving place to nepotism.