The party is expected to finalise its Khammam, Hyderabad, Karimnagar, and Warangal candidates at its central election committee's meeting on 31 March.
Telangana Congress chief Revanth Reddy with Congress leadership (Supplied)
The Congress seems to be confused over naming its candidates for Khammam, Hyderabad, Karimnagar, and Warangal (SC) Parliament constituencies in Telangana.
Though the BRS and BJP have announced their full list of candidates for all 17 Lok Sabha seats in the state, the names of Congress candidates are coming out in fits and starts.
The central election committee of the Congress, presided by party matriarch Sonia Gandhi and attended by AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge and Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, on Wednesday, 27 March, could decide on only four names.
It kept the decision on the candidates in four other seats on the back burner till the next meeting on 31 March.
Incidentally, the Congress is not keen on winning the Hyderabad as it is considered the exclusive territory of AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi.
The BRS and the BJP have announced Hindu candidates for the seat — Gaddam Srinivas Yadav and K Madhavi Latha, respectively — but the Congress might field a Muslim candidate, though it is not hopeful of winning it.
The party is understood to be considering Telangana Wakf Board CEO Khaja Moinuddin’s wife and Supreme Court advocate Shahnaz Tabassum as its candidate in Hyderabad. Madhavi Latha and Srinivas Yadav are likely to split the Hindu votes and polarise Muslim votes in favour of Owaisi.
In an interesting development, former Indian cricket team captain Mohammad Azharuddin is understood to have urged the party high command to field star tennis player Sania Mirza in Hyderabad.
Mirza has retired from professional tennis and is showing interest in getting into the political bullring. However, the Congress wants to leave the seat to AIMIM so that it can count on its support, should the need arise in the Assembly where Revanth Reddy has a wafer-thin majority.
Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka seems to have come down off the high horse and is no longer insisting that his wife Nandini should be fielded from Khammam. The party is yet to decide on whether to field Revenue Minister Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy’s brother Prasad Reddy or look for another candidate.
Khammam is considered the safest seat for the Congress in the state. The party has invited AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi to contest from the constituency. A final decision will be made on 31 March after knowing her preference.
In Warangal, a seat reserved for the Scheduled Castes, the party seems to be sandwiched between a two-horned dilemma. It has to decide between Madiga leader Dommati Samabiah and Mala leader and BRS sitting MP Pasunuri Dayakar, who joined the Congress recently.
Dayakar crossed over to the Congress after BRS supremo K Chandrasekhar Rao replaced him with former Minister Kadiyam Srihari’s daughter Kadiyam Kavya as the candidate.
The Congress has already nominated candidates from the Mala community in two of the three reserved seats, Paddpally and Nagarkunrool. It cannot afford to alienate the Madiga leaders by fielding a Mala candidate in Warangal.
The Madigas are maintaining that they should have got one of the two seats where the Congress had nominated candidates, saying they are numerically stronger than Malas in Telangana.
Against this backdrop, the Congress could not afford to allot the Warangal ticket to another Mala. The party is mulling over fielding Madiga leader Dommati Sambaiah, even though it might dash Dayakar’s hopes. The Congress might accommodate him in a prominent party position or the government, instead of allotting him the Warangal ticket.
In Karimnagar, the party has been on the lookout for a candidate with a stature matching BJP national general secretary and sitting MP Bandi Sanjay Kumar.
The names of Velichala Rajender Rao, a Velama leader with deep pockets, and Algireddy Praveen Reddy, a leader from a farmers’ family are under consideration.
The Congress would need someone with sound resources and popularity to take on Bandi Sanjay and BRS’s former MP B Vinod Kumar. Veilchala has resources and Praveen Reddy has better connections with the farmers. The party has been weighing if the legacy of Velichala’s father and former MLA Jagapathi Rao still resonates with the people.
Former MLA Praveen Reddy is expecting to contest. He had withdrawn from contesting the Assembly polls, paving the way for Ponnam Prabhakar’s victory from Husnabad. Prabhakar is now a minister in the Revanth Reddy cabinet.
Praveen Reddy wants the party to pay him back for his sacrifice. However, he does not have the resources as Velichala. The Congress MLAs and party in-charges in Assembly segments in the Parliamentary constituency may campaign for him but they would not be spending money since it is not their election. This is where Veilchala is understood to be having an edge.
Though there were reports that the name of Sneha Polsani, an NRI, was considered, the latest indications are that the party would decide between Velichala and Praveen Reddy.
“I am confident of getting the ticket to contest from Karimnagar. My main rival would be Bandi Sanjay Kumar. BRS’s Vinod Kumar is not a match for me. The BRS is all washed-up,” Velichala told South First.
(Edited by Majnu Babu).
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