On Friday, the Congress revealed its second roster of 45 candidates for the upcoming November 30 Telangana Assembly elections.With this announcement, the Congress has now disclosed 100 candidates out of a total of 119 constituencies.
The eagerly anticipated third list, covering the remaining 19 seats, is anticipated to be unveiled by November 2.The initial list of 55 candidates was disclosed on October 15.
Within the second list, there are eight BC candidates, 22 from the Reddy community, three from the Kamma community, one from the Brahmin community, and the remaining seats are allocated to the SC and ST groups.
The Congress has yet to unveil its choices to challenge Chief Minister K.Chandrashekar Rao in Kamareddy and IT Minister K.T.Rama Rao in Sircilla, preserving an air of suspense.There’s speculation that TPCC chief A.Revanth Reddy may be fielded in Kamareddy, possibly alongside Kodangal, where his candidacy was already announced in the first list.
The Nizamabad Urban seat remains undecided; Shabbir Ali is expected to be nominated in place of his home constituency, Kamareddy.
This has further fueled speculation that Revanth Reddy might be the chosen candidate for Kamareddy.
Poojala Harikrishna will face off against Minister T.Harish Rao in the Siddipet constituency.Meanwhile, former MLA Kicchanagari Laxma Reddy will contest against Minister Sabitha Indra Reddy from Maheshwaram.
Several prominent leaders from the BRS and the BJP, who recently joined the Congress, have been included in the second list: Tummala Nageshara Rao from Khammam, Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy from Palair, Revuri Prakash Reddy from Parkal, Buyyani Manohar Reddy from Tandur, Payam Venkateswarlu from Pinapaka, and V.Jagadeeshwar Goud from Serilingampally.
Former cricketer Mohammed Azharuddin has been fielded from Jubilee Hills, while Khairatabad District Congress Committee president C.Rohin Reddy has secured the Amberpet ticket.
P.Janardhan Reddy’s daughter, P.Vijaya Reddy, who recently switched to Congress from the BRS, has been nominated for Khairatabad.Unfortunately, his son P.Vishnuvardhan Reddy did not receive a ticket for Jubilee Hills.
Congress leader Cheruku Srinivas Reddy, who contested and lost the Dubbak bypoll in 2020, has been retained for the same seat.Former Minister G.Chinna Reddy, who faced a loss in 2018, will stand once again from Wanaparthy.Kumbam Anil Kumar Reddy, who briefly joined the BRS before returning to Congress, will be the contender from Bhongir.
Konda Surekha is set to contest from Warangal East.
Naini Rajender Reddy, a staunch Congress loyalist who voluntarily gave up his seat for an alliance partner in 2018, has secured the Warangal West ticket.
Kommuri Pratap Reddy will vie for the seat in Jangaon, where former PCC president Ponnala Lakshmaiah initially sought the party ticket.
Following indications that he might be denied the Congress ticket, Lakshmaiah recently joined the BRS.
The Congress is expected to release its third list of 15 candidates, while allotting two seats each to CPI and CPM after a consensus is reached on which four seats to be allotted to Left parties.
