AICC general secretary KC Venugopal held a late-night meeting on Thursday with dissenting aspirants before the party affected a last-minute change of candidate.
Published Nov 10, 2023 | 8:23 PM ⚊ Updated Nov 10, 2023 | 8:28 PM
The change in the candidature during the last moment by the party not only surprised the people but also the leaders across the party were seen in different emotions. (Supplied)
As the filing of nominations for the Telangana Assembly Election 2023 ended on Friday, 10 November, the change in candidates at the last moment by political parties not only surprised people but also leaders across the political spectrum.
Both the Congress and the BJP made these last-minute changes, leading to some scrambling and confusion.
Just hours before the closing of nomination filing, the Congress changed its candidate from Narayankhed.
Former Zaheerabad MP Suresh Shetkar, who was earlier announced for the seat and filed three sets of nomination papers, was sidelined as a B-form was given to Patlolla Sanjeeva Reddy.
Suresh Shetkar is a Lingayat leader and was an MP from Zaheerabad from 2009 to 2014 before he lost the seat. He also contested in 2018 from the Narayankhed constituency but lost to the TRS’ M Bhupal Reddy by a margin of around 53,000 votes.
In 2014, veteran Patlolla Kishta Reddy of the Congress won the seat but died of a heart stroke in 2016. His son Sanjeeva Reddy contested the by-election in 2016 and lost to M Bhupal Reddy.
Sanjeeva Reddy joined the BJP when Shetkar was given a Congress ticket from the constituency in 2018 and was the party’s state vice-president. But he shifted back his loyalty to the Congress just before the upcoming election.
Even though Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee leaders like Uttam Kumar Reddy and Revanth Reddy opposed Shetkar’s candidature, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge gave him a ticket to ensure representation of the Lingayat community from the constituency that borders Karnataka.
However, Sanjeeva Reddy persisted and the PCC leaders backed him. When the Congress’ national general secretary KC Venugopal visited the state on Thursday, a late-night decision was made to change the candidate to Sanjeeva Reddy.
Shetkar was taken into confidence and is said to have been promised a Lok Sabha ticket from Zaheerabad.
Given the legacy of his father, Sanjeeva Reddy is expected to have an impact on the constituencies around Narayankhed.
In the Suryapet constituency, Congress leader Patel Ramesh Reddy filed the nomination as a rebel candidate after the party once again fielded former minister Ramreddy Damodar Reddy. Ramesh Reddy filed the nomination as a candidate of the All India Forward Bloc.
The party announced Damodar Reddy’s candidature on Thursday night, evoking strong protests from Ramesh Reddy’s followers. Ramesh Reddy, a strong aspirant, was so disheartened that he along with his family members burst into tears.
He was asked to sacrifice his candidature in 2018 as well — and even then the benefactor was Damodar Reddy.
There was also drama in Patancheru, where Nilam Madhu Mudiraj filed the nomination as the candidate of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).
The Congress replaced him as its candidate late on Thursday night. The party named Katta Sreenivas Goud as its candidate there.
The Congress decision apparently followed strong protests by followers of Srinivas Goud. Madhu had quit the BRS to join the Congress recently, and the ticket being given to him angered several Congress leaders in the constituency.
Karnataka’s Minister for Minor Irrigation and Science and Technology NS Boseraju, who is also the AICC’s special observer for Telangana, told South First: “AICC general secretary (organisation) KC Venugopal chaired a meeting with all the party leaders and observers. He chanted the unity mantra in the meeting.”
He added: “He held talks with 18 dissidents in the party. They were upset over missing out on ticket for the Assembly elections.”
Boseraju said Venugopal “has promised the disgruntled leaders good posts and positions either in the party or the government.”
He continued: “They have been asked to work unitedly and ensure the party’s victory in their respective constituencies. He urged the party leaders and observers to quell the dissent in the cadre. We believe that there is no dissent in the party after this meeting.”
The Karnataka minister also said: “The disgruntled leaders agreed with the high command and assured that they would work for the party in the elections. I have also held talks with several dissent leaders and made efforts to quell the unrest in the cadre.”
He added: “Meanwhile, Venugopal directed all the observers — including five ministers and 40 MLAs from Karnataka — to work in the grassroots till 28 November.”
In a significant turn of events, the Vemulawada BJP ticket — originally given to Tula Uma — has now been reassigned to Ch Vikas Rao, the son of senior BJP leader Ch Vidyasagar Rao, and the B-form has been issued accordingly.
The BJP initially kept the Vemulawada ticket matter unresolved, naming Tula Uma for it only in its fourth list.
Despite the party’s announcement of the ticket, Uma did not receive the B-form, even though she filed three sets of nominations on Thursday and Friday.
Vikas Rao’s candidature for Vemulawada was announced in an unexpected development on the final day to file nominations, and the B-form was also issued to him.
Uma, a follower of senior BJP leader Eatala Rajender — she joined the saffron party along with Rajender — had previously served as the Karimangar Zilla Parishad chairperson. She had pinned her hopes on the Vemulawada ticket and actively worked in the constituency for several years.
Simultaneously, Vikas Rao, a doctor by profession, had also been involved in the segment, organising medical camps and donating ambulances to government hospitals in recent years.
Initially denied the ticket due to the party’s policy of not allocating tickets to family members of party leaders, Vikas Rao was approved as a candidate all of a sudden, overturning the earlier decision to allocate the ticket to Uma.
On a different note, the BJP assigned the long-pending Peddapalli ticket to Dugyala Pradeep Rao.
Meanwhile, Rajeswara Rao Deshpande, who was given a ticket from the Sangareddy constituency at the last minute, was not given the B-form. Instead, Puli Mamidi Raju was given the B form.
In a video that surfaced on social media, Rajeswar Rao was seen crying and reportedly telling G Kishan Reddy even over the phone that he would die by suicide. He eventually filed his candidature as an independent candidate.
As many as 1,133 candidates had filed their nominations till 3 pm on November 9 (Thursday). The final figure of nominations was likely to be available late on Friday.
(With inputs from Mahesh M Goudar)
