Kiran Kumari Reddy Not To Contest Polls?

It looks like Nallari Kiran Kumar Reddy, the last chief minister of undivided Andhra Pradesh, is not interested in contesting the elections to either the Andhra Pradesh state assembly or Lok Sabha.

While there was a good response from the Congress leaders for the party tickets to contest the forthcoming assembly and Lok Sabha elections in the state, Kiran Kumar Reddy did not even apply for the Congress party ticket.

In all, 1090 aspirants submitted applications to the party high command to contest from 175 assembly segments and 181 leaders threw their hats in the ring for the party tickets for the elections to 25 Lok Sabha constituencies.

However, the former chief minister did not even formally put forth his application to either Lok Sabha or assembly elections.

There could be two reasons for it: Kiran Kumar Reddy is not serious about contesting the elections, as he believes that the Congress does not have much stakes in these elections.

Going by the trends, the fight is mostly between the Telugu Desam Party and the YSR Congress party and in constituencies, Jana Sena Party headed by actor Pawan Kalyan will give some fight.

Since the chances of the Congress party are very bleak, Kiran might have thought he would anyway lose the elections and it would only further damage his image.

The other reason could be: Kiran might have thought it below his dignity to apply for a party ticket. Having served as the chief minister for over three years, it would be an insult for him to apply for the ticket.

He might be of the view that since he was respectfully invited back into the party, it would be appropriate for the party to give him ticket without the routine scrutiny process.

Otherwise, Kiran might be expecting that he would be nominated to Rajya Sabha from any other state, so that the party could utilise his services at the national level.