Mahipal Reddy distances self from Congress poll campaign

Rivals within and outside the party accuse the Patancheru MLA of working against the Congress

Sangareddy: Patancheru Congress MLA Gudem Mahipal Reddy has distanced himself from the campaign for the Adilabad-Medak-Karimnagar and Nizamabad MLC (Graduate constituency) election, sparking quite an uproar among Congress cadre and leaders in the constituency.

Since the notification for the MLC election was issued, the behaviour of the MLA has attracted a lot of criticism from the Congress cadre. He had made his follower N Yadagiri Yadav file nomination initially, but later made him withdraw from the contest.

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However, rumours are rife in Patancheru that Yadagiri Yadav withdrew from the contest for the benefit of BJP candidate C Anji Reddy, who also hails from Patancheru. Since the constituency had more than 7,000 voters, Anji Reddy had reportedly pursued Yadav to withdraw from the contest.

His rivals within and outside the party are accusing Mahipal Reddy of working against the Congress. The allegations have gathered strength as he is staying away from the election campaign.

When the Patancheru Congress held a meeting on Monday, party constituency incharge Kata Srinivas Goud raised the issue and questioned why Mahipal Reddy was not attending party meetings. Though the campaign came to a halt on Tuesday, Mahipal Reddy did not even make a single statement or a video message to the voters in the constituency requesting them to vote for Congress candidate. Since the contest is expected to be between Congress candidate Narendar Reddy, BJP candidate Anji Reddy and independent candidate Prasanna Harikrishna, the votes in Patancheru constituency will be a key factor.