Shivakumar takes detour to Andhra

Maqsood Maniyar

Bengaluru / Vijayawada: Taking a break from election campaigning in Telangana, Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar on Saturday visited Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh. On the occasion, Shivakumar visited the Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) office in Vijayawada and met the party’s Andhra chief Gidugu Rudra Raju and former APCC president Raghuveera Reddy.

He also visited the Kanakadurgamma temple in the city. Assembly elections are due in Telangana on November 30 and in Andhra Pradesh in May next year.

Pitched rhetorical battles and personal attacks between Congress and the ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) have characterized the campaigning in Telangana so far.

The Karnataka Congress chief is emerging as a key organizational figure in the Grand Old Party after the May Assembly elections in the state.

Congress under Shivakumar’s stewardship had bagged 135 seats and he had carved out a space for himself as the next Vokkaliga mass leader in the Old Mysuru region.

He eventually bagged the post of the lone Deputy Chief Minister for his contribution. His accomplishments in his home state, alongside his rapport with All India Congress Committee (AICC) president Mallikarjun Kharge and the NehruGandhis have meant that his party responsibilities have increased in south India.

Shivakumar accompanied by party strategist Sunil Kanugolu, who was instrumental in securing a simple majority for the Congress in Karnataka, are using the tried and tested two-pronged strategy of utilization of survey-based data to aid their campaign on the one hand and the welfare schemes similar to the five guarantees that the Grand Old Party has promised in Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka.