Prestigious Wins in Khammam And Kurnool

In the one and only four–cornered contest in the entire state, the CPI(M) held its own and won comfortably from the center of communist stronghold - Khammam. The CPI(M) central committee member and former MP, Thammineni Veerabadhram, won this seat by defeating his nearest TDP rival by a margin of 9,820 votes. Of the total 1,57,677 votes in the constituency, CPI(M) candidate got 46,505 votes. The Congress candidate stood third with 35,544 while the CPI candidate, Puvvada Nageshwara Rao stood fourth.

During the discussions among the opposition parties on tactical adjustments, the CPI(M) had insisted that Khammam should be left to it as it was a major force in that constituency. As an understanding could not be reached, the CPI(M) had to invariably contest from that seat to prove its point, which the final outcome did. All the independents contesting from this seat lost their deposits.

Another prestigious contest won by the CPI(M) was in Kurnool in Rayalaseema region. The Party state secretariat member, M A Gafoor, defeated the millionaire TDP candidate T G Venkatesh by a margin of 2,462 votes. The CPI(M) succeeded in overcoming the money power of the TDP candidate by effectively campaigning against the TDP misrule and raising the consciousness of the people. The Party highlighted the vested interest of the TDP candidate, who as sitting MLA  did nothing to solve the water problem in the town because he himself ran a private water company and was benefiting from water crisis. The people ultimately taught him a fitting lesson. He was also sabotaging working class struggles by floating his independent trade unions and always intervening to benefit managements. Gafoor who is also CITU state president had a history