Congress names 4 of the remaining 8 Telangana Lok Sabha candidates, fields tribal teacher from Adilabad

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In Adilabad and Nizamabad

The choice of the candidates for the four seats was on expected lines.

For Adilabad (ST), the nomination of Athram Suguna had been on the cards for quite some time.

Suguna, who has a Maoist background, had the support of minister Dhanasari Anasuya alias Seethakka and Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy.

Tadiparthi Jeevan Reddy, who will be the party’s nominee for Nizamabad, is an MLC from the Nizamabad-Adilabad-Medak-Karimnagar graduates constituency.

He was elected as an MLA for the first time on a TDP ticket in 1983 and was inducted into the state Cabinet. He later differed with the then chief minister NT Rama Rao and joined the Congress in 1984.

He won the elections in 1989, 1996, 1999, 2004, and 2014. In 2019, he was elected to the Legislative Council.

Also Read: Rumblings of discontent in Congress over fielding ‘migrants’

In Medak and Bhongir

For Medak, the choice of Backward Class (BC) leader Neelam Madhu was also expected.

Neelam Madhu left the BRS and joined the Congress in anticipation of an Assembly ticket for Patancheru. But the Congress, after announcing his name for Patancheru, changed the candidate at the last minute.

An upset Madhu then joined the BSP and contested from the same constituency. He polled more than 50,000 votes but lost the election.

He then returned to the Congress and has now managed to get a Lok Sabha ticket for Medak. Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy is understood to have intervened in the allotment of a ticket to him.

For Bhongir, the Congress announced the candidature of TPCC vice-president Chamala Kiran Kumar Reddy.

He has been spending anxious moments, as MLA Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy — who had been insisting on a ticket for his wife Lakshmi — finally relented.

Rajagopal Reddy and his elder brother Venkatreddy draw a lot of water in the district, and wanted a BC leader to be allotted the ticket since, according to sources, Revanth Reddy was batting for Kiran Kumar Reddy.

(Edited by Arkadev Ghoshal)