Page 152 - Demo

PVG Raju's tenure was unfortunately cut short by an accident in the summer of 1964. The accident kept him away from public life for over three years and on his return, he discovered that the political context had changed completely. His standing within the Congress Party was no longer what it was before the accident because of his debilitated condition. He had been the tallest leader of the party from the north coastal Andhra and his followers from this region had deserted him thinking that his political future was over. The unkindest cut of all was perhaps the behaviour of some of his closest associates who had been with him since his socialist days in the early 1950s. When PVG Raju moved to the Congress Party in 1959 they had followed him and continued to hold positions of power, having been elected on Congress tickets in 1962. When the time came for the selection of candidates for the 1967 elections, PVG Raju wanted to contest from Vizianagaram. Given his weakened condition and inability to campaign vigorously, he felt sure that his standing and stature in Vizianagaram would see him through. This required that Bhattam Sriram Murthy be the candidate from another constituency. PVG Raju expected that there would be no problem but Murthy was vehemently opposed to the idea of moving elsewhere and began machinations with the state leaders. The Vizianagaram ticket was given to Murthy and PVG Raju was asked to contest from Bheemunipatnam again. Deeply hurt by this behaviour PVG Raju stayed away from the Congress campaign and his own campaign for the Bheemunipatnam seat was low-key given his weakened health. In a surprising development, offended by the behaviour of Murthy, PVG Raju%u2019s younger brother Visweswara Gajapathi Raju (Vishy) and the remaining loyalists campaigned for the 138