Defected candidates to go against former peers

Hyderabad: Defections of MLAs after the 2014 Assembly elections has created a peculiar situation in the upcoming Telangana Assembly elections. Some of those who defected to the TRS will have to defeat candidates from the party from which they were elected in the previous election.

In the 2014 Assembly elections TRS won 63 seats of the 119 seats. After the elections about 30 MLAs from the Congress, TD and YSRC joined the TRS. In the upcoming Assembly elections, the TRS leadership has given tickets to all the defectors except one or two.

Some of the MLAs from the TD who defected will have to fight candidates from their former party. In Serilimgampally assembly constituency, Arikepudi Gandhi was elected as the TD candidate in the 2014 Assembly elections. Later he joined the TRS and is now contesting from the same constituency, as a TRS candidate, against Bhavya Anand Prasad of the TD. 

In Mudhole assembly constituency in Adilabad district (old) G. Vital Reddy won for the Congress in the previous elections and later joined the TRS. In the coming Assembly elections he is the TRS candidate and Congress has announced Rama Rao Patel as its candidate. 

In Kukatpally Assembly constituency Madhavarm Krishna Rao won from the TD in the previous elections and joined the TRS later. Now he is contesting as a TRS candidate from Kukatpally against the TD’s E. Peddireddy, a former minister. 

Former Minister D.S. Redya Naik of the Congress won from Dornakal Assembly constituency in Warangal district in 2014 and later joined the TRS. This time round he will be pitted against a candidate from his old party. The Congress is yet to announce its candidate for this constituency.

In the Miryalaguda Assembly constituency, Congress candidate Nallamothu Bhaskar Rao won in the previous elections and joined the TRS later. He will be up against a Congress candidate in Miryalaguda. Senior Congress leader K Jana Reddy is trying to get the Miryalaguda ticket for his son. 

In Mulugu assembly constituency Dasari Anasuya contested from the Telugu Desam party in the previous elections and was defeated by Minister Chandulal. This time she is trying her luck from the Congress against the same TRS candidate Chandulal. Several MLAs in the dissolved assembly who won from the TD and Congress in the previous elections are now contesting as TRS candidates.