The Congress leadership wants to wait for political developments that may arise after the TD finalises its candidate on Wednesday, and then take a decision depending on possible desertions into its camp from the TD. To this effect, though Mr Varadarajulu Reddy’s name is doing the rounds, sources said there might be a surprise.

The PCC spokesperson, Mr N. Tulasi Reddy, told newspersons that while Mr Vivekananda Reddy had been finalised for Pulivendula, the Kadapa candidate would be announced on Wednesday after a final meeting convened by the Mr Kiran Kumar Reddy and the PCC chief, Mr D. Srinivas. The Chief Minister had convened a meeting at his camp office on Tuesday which was attended by ministers. Dr D.L. Ravindra Reddy, Mr Y.S. Vivekananda Reddy, Md Ahmadulla, in-charge minister, Mr Kanna Laxminarayana, 20 point economic committee chairman, Mr N. Tulasi Reddy, and others to finalise the party candidates for the by-polls.

The presence of the Praja Rajyam leader and MLC, Mr C. Ramachandraiah, during Tuesday’s meeting had meanwhile started rumours that he might be the Congress candidate to take on Mr Jagan in Kadapa but both Mr Tulasi Reddy and Mr Ramachandraiah denied it. Meanwhile, the TD chief, Mr N. Chandrababu Naidu, after a three-hour long meeting with Kadapa party leaders, reportedly finalised Mr Putta Chaitanya Reddy, son of the TD leader, Mr Putta Narasimha Reddy, as the party’s candidate for the Kadapa Lok Sabha seat.

Mr B.Tech Ravindranath Reddy of Simhadripuram mandal has been reportedly chosen as the TD candidate from the Pulivendula Assembly segment. Mr Naidu will formally announce the names of the candidates after meeting Kadapa leaders again on Wednesday morning, said TD sources. Talking to newspersons later Mr Naidu said that TD would benefit the most in the bypolls and emerge victorious due to the split in Congress votes.