The Congress has plunged into election mode in Telangana as it released the first list of candidates for the upcoming Assembly elections. The state is witnessing a three-way contest this time with the BJP in the fray.
The Congress, hoping to wrest power from the ruling BRS led by Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, kept the momentum going with the release of the much-anticipated first list of candidates on Sunday. The list includes over 24 defectors and three MPs.
While Telangana PCC president Revanth Reddy will contest from the Kodangal assembly seat, CLP leader Bhatti Vikramarka Mallu has been fielded from the Madhira-SC seat. T Jeevan Reddy and Duddilla Sridhar Babu are other prominent names.
TPCC general secretary Adam Santhosh Kumar will contest from Secundrabad. The party has also fielded its sitting Lok Sabha MP N Uttam Kumar Reddy from the Huzurnagar assembly constituency. He currently represents the Nalgonda Lok Sabha seat in Telangana. Besides, first-timer Kota Neelima, wife of national spokesperson Pawan Khera, has also been fielded from the Sanathnagar assembly seat.
Interestingly, it decided to go against the Udaipur declaration, which called for party tickets to only the family members of each leader. Both Uttam Kumar Reddy and his wife N Padmavathi Reddy have been given tickets.
It also made the exemption in sitting MLA Mynampally Hanumantha Rao’s case, with Rao contesting from Malkajgiri and his son Mynampally Rohit in the fray from Medak Assembly constituency. Both Rao and his son are BRS defectors. Rao quit the party claiming he was “deeply disappointed and disillusioned with the lack of democracy and transparency in the party’s functioning.” Senior Congress leader Tumkunta Narasa Reddy will contest against BRS president and chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao in Gajwel.
