The announcement made by Chief Election Commissioner that the by-elections to 18 assembly seats and Nellore Lok Sabha seat will be held before July is believed to have upset all the plans of the Congress party. The initial impression given by the Election Commission officials in the state was that the by-polls would be dragged till last week of August, so that it would give a lot of breathing time for the Kiran Kumar Reddy government to woo the electorate with some pre-election sops.

Since the Congress high command has clearly told Kiran and PCC president Botsa Satyanarayana that they would retain their posts only if the party wins at least half of the number of seats, the sudden announcement by the CEC came as a big jolt for them.

On Saturday, the Congress party’s coordination committee had to meet hurriedly at the CM’s camp office to chalk out the strategy.Since there is hardly any time to formulate a new scheme and announce the same, the party has to work out a new strategy. However, the selection of candidates itself is a big task and it will take at least three to four weeks. And by that time, the election schedule is likely to be announced!