The Congress may face trouble in the Boath (ST) and Wanaparthy segments as it replaced candidates named earlier, causing heartburn.
Published Nov 07, 2023 | 12:10 AM ⚊ Updated Nov 07, 2023 | 12:52 AM
Congress's Revanth Reddy addressing the media. (Screengrab)
The Telangana Assembly elections will see a lot of drama, with two strong leaders — one from the Congress and the other from the BJP — set to take on Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao in Gajwel and Kamareddy, the two segments the BRS supremo is contesting from.
The Congress, on Monday, 6 November, cleared the name of state unit president A Revanth Reddy for Kamareddy. Revanth Reddy is also contesting from Kodangal, his home constituency.
BJP MLA from Huzurabad Eatala Rajender will be trying to exact revenge against his friend-turned-foe KCR by contesting against him in the latter’s home constituency of Gajwel. Eatala is also contesting from his own home constituency of Huzurabad.
The Congress, in its third list, cleared names of candidates for 14 Assembly seats — leaving four more pending. The third list contained names for undeclared 14 Assembly seats and names of fresh candidates for two seats, replacing the candidates announced earlier.
In other words, the Congress has finalised candidates for 114 of the 119 seats, leaving four more seats for which it has to declare candidates. The party has left one seat — Kothagudem — to the CPI.
The four seats where candidates are yet to be announced are: Tungathurthi, Suryapet, Miryalaguda, and Charminar.
As expected, Revanth Reddy, who has been baying for KCR’s blood, will try to exact a revenge on KCR at Kamareddy just as Eatala Rajender of the BJP wants to settle scores with the chief minister at Gajwel.
According to Congress sources South First spoke to, Revanth Reddy has been asked to grapple with KCR in Kamareddy with the main intention of protecting the Congress voters from going KCR’s way.
If the odds favour Revanth Reddy, he would become the giant slayer and a sure shot to become the candidate for the chief minister’s position, should the Congress come to power.
Mohammad Shabbir Ali, who nursed Kamareddy all these years, hoping to turn the tables against his BRS rival Gampa Govardhan, has had to move to Nizamabad Urban to make way for Revanth Reddy after KCR decided to rest Govardhan and seek election from there himself.
Though Shabbir Ali said he had no objection to contesting from Kamareddy against KCR, the party shifted him to Nizamabad Urban so that a more powerful leader could protect the party’s vote bank in Kamaraeddy and, if possible, take down KCR.
In Nizamabad Urban, the party’s perception is that Shabbir Ali stands a good chance of winning over the BRS candidate Beegala Ganesh as the constituency has a significant Muslim population.
As there is a narrative that the wind is blowing in favour of the Congress, Shabbir Ali would have a better chance of winning in Nizamabad Urban rather than Kamareddy.
As expected, the Congress has nominated Dr G Vivekanand for Chennur (ST). He joined the Congress only recently after leaving the BJP.
In fact, the Congress offered the segment to the CPI during its talks on seat-sharing with the Left party, but went back on its word when Vivekananda indicated that he was willing to cross the fence if Chennur was allotted to him.
Much to the chagrin of Vannela Ashok, whose name was released by the party for the Boath (ST) segment earlier, the party nominated Ade Gajender in his place.
Similarly, in Wanaparthy, the party nominated Tudi Meghareddy, much to the heartburn of former minister G Chinna Reddy.
In both the places, the party might face trouble from these two leaders who would be feeling humiliated for being eased out after their names were announced officially.
The Congress nominated Ramadas Maloth for Wyra (ST), much to his relief. The party allotted the seat to him after the talks with the CPI(M) broke down. The CPI(M) wanted, apart from Miryalguda, Wyra as much as the Congress desired to retain it.
The party nominated candidates for five ST seats: They area: Ade Gajender (Boath), Jatoth Ramachandra Naik (Dornakal), Koram Kanakaiah (Yellendu), Ramdas Maloth (Wyra) and Jare Adinarayaa (Ashwaraopet).
The list had names of candidates for three SC seats: G Vivekanada (Chennur), Thota Lakshmi Kantah Rao (Jukkal), and Matta Ragamayee (Sathupally). There were four reddys and they were: Enugu Ravinder Reddy (Banswada), Revanth Reddy (Kamareddy), KK MahenderReddy (Sircilla), and Thudi Mahender Reddy (Wanaparthy).
