Senior Congress leader and former Rajya Sabha member K V P Ramachandra Rao has been inactive in politics for a long time.
Except surfacing now and then at the Congress meetings, one can hardly see him actively participating in the party programmes.
When Y S Rajasekhar Reddy was reigning supreme in the combined Andhra Pradesh state, KVP was the most influential leader, having control over most of the Congress leaders. He was more or less like an extra constitutional authority.
After YSR’s death, KVP lost his glory and also the hold over the party.
Most of the Congress leaders shifting loyalties to the YSR Congress party headed by YSR’s son Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, KVP remained isolated and he gradually faded into political oblivion.
But KVP’s name suddenly started surfacing in Andhra Pradesh politics, after YSR’s daughter Y S Sharmila took over as the Pradesh Congress Committee chief and started rejuvenating the party. Though the party did not fare well in the recent elections, Sharmila has given it some life.
Now with YSRCP led by Jagan going down in the dumps after the recent elections, the Congress high command has apparently thought there is a chance for the party to get new lease of life. And it asked none other than KVP, who was a bosom friend of YSR.
It was KVP who took the initiative to organize YSR’s 75th birth anniversary at Mangalagiri on Monday on behalf of the Congress. Since Sharmila is now the face of the party, the meeting is being organized under her auspices.
KVP now says there is every chance for the Congress to get back its glory by 2029 and has expressed hope that it might even be a front runner for power by next elections, as there is little chance for Jagan to regain his lost hold.
He has asked all the Congress leaders who had deserted the party in the past to return to their parent party and assured them of a bright future for them in the coming years.
It will be interesting to see how many of them would quit the Jagan party and return to the Congress.
