It’s election time and the Congress leadership is once again in the thick of controversy over distribution of party tickets to the ‘rich’ and ‘mighty’.PCC president D Srinivas, who is presently touring different parts of the State to gear up the party cadres for the forthcoming elections, is learnt to be actually on the job of ‘fund raising’ for the party as well as for the people who matter in issuance of party tickets. “There is no doubt that only those who can grease the palms of the PCC president would get tickets this time in several constituencies, as had happened in the past,” a senior Congress leader from Nalgonda told Deccan Post.
During 2004 elections, too, DS was the PCC president and he had to face allegations of collecting money from several aspirants. It is not just senior leaders like P Sivasankar and P Upendra, who made such allegations; present Greater Hyderabad Congress Committee president D Nagender, too, openly alleged that DS was ‘selling’ tickets to the aspirants. For instance, there was a talk that Nizamabad MP Madhu Yashki could get the party ticket only because of his money power.
In the last four and a half years, the Congress leaders allegedly amassed huge wealth through land deals, irrigation contracts and sub-contracts and other shady activities. “Each candidate is ready to spend not less than Rs 10 crore on the elections, right from purchasing party tickets to purchasing votes. It is going to be the most expensive election in the history of Andhra Pradesh,” a Lok Satta leader said.
Naturally, people who matter in the selection of candidates will rake in the moolah at the time of elections. Chief Minister Dr Y S Rajasekhara Reddy is harping on winning chances of the candidates as the criteria for issuance of party tickets. But, what matters finally is money. “Right from the PCC leaders to AICC in charge of AP affairs Veerappa Moily, it will be the golden opportunity to make quick money,” a young aspirant for Congress ticket said.
While seniors and confidants of the Chief Minister who do not have much competition in their respective constituencies can easily get tickets, money plays a crucial role in those constituencies, where there is a tough competition among the aspirants. “That is how things work out in the Congress,” he said.
