Congress final list sparks rebellion, two hopefuls rebel against leadership

Hyderabad: The final list of candidates released by Congress for the ensuing state Assembly polls late on Thursday sparked rebellion and protests by party workers in some constituencies on Friday.

Patel Ramesh Reddy, denied a ticket from Suryapet, declared that he would contest as a rebel candidate and filed his nomination papers. Neelam Madhu Mudiraj, who was replaced in Patancheru by Kata Srinivas Goud, filed his papers on behalf of the BSP.

Madhu and his supporters staged a protest dharna in Patancheru while his supporters raised slogans against former deputy chief minister Damodar Rajanarasimha. They accused Rajanarasimha of bringing pressure on the party's high command to have Madhu’s name removed after the party announced it on November 6.

Madhu lashed out at both the BRS and the cc for deceiving the Mudiraj community.

"First it was BRS, which deceived the Mudiraj community by not allocating a single ticket. Congress leaders approached me and assured full justice following which I joined Congress. My candidature was declared in the third list on November 6. I went to Gandhi Bhavan on November 8 to receive the B-form. I was told that they were awaiting instructions from the high command on this issue. Finally, they released the final list on Thursday night in which my name was replaced with that of Srinivas Goud. This is nothing but the Congress’ way of deceiving and humiliating our community," he said.

Madhu was soon approached by BJP’s Patancheru candidate T. Nandeeshwar Goud, who invited him to join the BJP. But Madhu decided to join BSP after its chief R.S. Praveen Kumar called him over the phone and invited him into the party.

Patel Ramesh Reddy held MP N. Uttam Kumar Reddy responsible for not getting the Suryapet ticket. He alleged that denial of a ticket for him was part of a conspiracy to help BRS candidate and minister G. Jagadish Reddy win in Suryapet. He said he would soon reveal the names of those who were part of the conspiracy hatched against him.