Telangana Polls: Congress Releases First List with 55 Candidates

The Congress released the first list of candidates for the upcoming Assembly elections in Telangana.

With 55 candidates, the Congress released the list this morning.

After getting some clarity on the alliance with the Left parties, the party would release its second list two days later, according to party sources.The first list has the unmistakable stamp of TPCC president Revanth Reddy, as a majority of the candidates happen to be from his camp.

According to the list, the Mainampally family was given two tickets, for the father-son duo.With the BRS not issuing ticket to his son Mainampally Rohan Rao, party senior leader Mainampally Hanumantha Rao quit the party after it released the list of candidates.Mainampally Hanumantha Rao demanded that the BRS give the Medak ticket to his son and even slammed BRS president and Chief Minister K.Chandrasekhar Rao’s nephew and minister T.Harish Rao, representing the constituency, for being involved in heavy corruption.The Congress had given Medak constituency to Mainampally Rohit Rao and Malkajgiri ticket to Mainampally Hanumantha Rao.There is information that Tummala Nageswara Rao would contest from Khammam constituency on Congress ticket and Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy from Paleru.Significantly, the first list of Congress did not have their names.

Meanwhile, sitting MP Uttam Kumar would contest from Huzurnagar and his wife Padmavathi Reddy from Kodad.PCC chief A.Revanth Reddy will contest from Kodangal, party senior leader Komatireddy Venkat Reddy from Nalgonda.Gaddam Vinod would be contesting from Bellampalli (SC) constituency, Jeevan Reddy from Jagtial, Sridhar Babu from Manthani, Seetakka from Mulug (SC), Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka from Madhira (SC) constituency.

As many as 12 newcomers have been given tickets in the first list, a move that is sure to cause heartburn among the aspirants in these segments.Already in Kolhapur, ticket aspirant Chintala Jagadeswara Rao’s supporters set fire to party cutouts and flags in protest against the allotment of the ticket to former minister Jupalli Krishna Rao, who joined the Congress from the BRS.As many as 17 Reddys, seven Velamas, and 12 people from the Backward Classes (BCs) were among those who got tickets.

Seat sharing with the Left

As the talks with the Communists have not yet concluded, it is not yet known how many seats the CPI and the CPI(M) would get.They had sought five seats each, but the Congress has offered them two each, to which they are understood to have agreed grudgingly.But there is no agreement on which seats they will be getting.

The Congress is reportedly offering Kothagudem and Chennur to the CPI, which has been insisting on Bellampally instead of Chennur.Similarly, the CPI(M) is demanding Paleru and Miryalaguda, but the Congress is not ready to let Paleru go as former MP Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy and former Minister Thummala Nageswara Rao have set their sights on it.The Left parties reportedly demanded the Bhadrachalam constituency, as part of the alliance, but the Congress has issued the ticket to sitting MLA Podem Veeraiah.