Telangana Rashtra Samithi is now forced to hunt for a suitable candidate from among the dalits to be fielded as party nominee from Peddapally Lok Sabha constituency, after the sitting member G. Vivek ditched the pink party to rejoin the Congress.
It might be recalled that Vivek, son of senior Congress leader G. Venkatswamy, the first time industrialist-turned politician got elected to the Lok Sabha from Pedapally as the Congress nominee in 2009. However, he quit Congress and switched his loyalty to TRS in June last year in the wake of the Telangana agitation, ostensibly protesting against the undue delay by the Congress High Command in conceding the demand for a separate state.
As a matter of fact, Vivek after joining TRS has been proclaiming that the cherished goal of Telangana State could become a reality only by the efforts of K. Chandrashekar Rao and his pink party. After the passage of the A.P. Reorganization Bill in parliament paving way for the creation of Telangana state, Vivek jumped back into the his parent Congress bandwagon by claiming that it was Sonia Gandhi who had given the separate state as promised, and hence he is rejoining the Congress.
However according to inside sources, Vivek was feeling suffocated in the TRS as he was not being given due importance in the party and also due to the alleged autocratic attitude of KCR in making the TRS into his family fiefdom.
After Vivek quit Congress and joined TRS, the latter would have automatically chosen him as the party nominee to contest from Peddapally. But since he left the party in lurch by suddenly switching back his loyalty towards Congress, KCR is now forced to search for a suitable candidate from among the Dalits. Informed sources said KCR had zeroed in on Open University Sociology Professor Ganta Chakrapani. In fact Chakarapani has been invited by KCR to draft the TRS election strategy. Since he is also a well known political analyst appearing regularly on various TV channels, KCR seemed to be keen in inviting Chankrapani to be the party nominee for Peddapally seat. (NSS).
