'The End' card for CM Kiran Kumar Reddy

The talk in the political circles is that the outcome of the upcoming by-polls will decide the future of chief minister Kiran Kumar Reddy.

After Kiran Kumar Reddy took charge as chief minister, the Congress party failed to win atleast a single seat in any of the by-elections. The upcoming by-polls will be test for Kiran and his longevity as CM will depend on the results. If Kiran fails to make Congress win atleast half of the 18 Assembly seats where the by-elections will be held, then the High Command may choose someone else to replace him.

The by-elections will be held in 18 Assembly constituencies and Nellore Lok Sabha constituency. About 16 of these 18 Assembly seats and the single Lok Sabha seat were won by Congress in the 2009 polls. The other two seats belong to PRP. One of them fell vacant after the disqualification of Shobha Nagi Reddy by Speaker for defy party whip during No Confidence Motion against government and the other fell vacant due to the resignation of Chiru as Turupati MLA after he was nominated to the upper house. Retaining these constituencies will be very crucial for the survival of the party in the state.