The Congress party would have won the Tirupati seat with a comfortable margin had newly-anointed Congress MP, megastar Chiranjeevi stayed away from the campaign.

This is the opinion being expressed by most of the Congress party workers in Tirupati now.

“The people of Tirupati were not happy with Chiranjeevi as he had done little for them during his three year tenure as MLA. At the same time, the local Congress workers were also not accepting Chiranjeevi as their leader. Both the people and the party cadres did not take it kindly his campaign in Tirupati. Had he not campaigned in the by-elections, party candidate Venkataramana might have won the seat comfortably,” a Congress worker observed.

Venkataramana too indirectly criticised Chiranjeevi for damaging the party’s prospects by his campaign.

“Some leaders projected as if they were the saviours of the party in the by-elections. But, because of them, I have lost. In any case, I thank such leaders also,” he said.