Mahakutami confusion prevails over seat pick

Hyderabad: Due to lack of coordination among the allies of the Mahakutami, there is utter confusion over the seats and candidates of the alliance parties. 
In some constituencies it is not clear which party candidate is going to contest. 

For example, the Mahabubnagar Assembly seat was allotted to the Telugu Desam, which announced its candidate. The Congress announced its candidates for Station Ghanpur and Asifabad. But, surprisingly, the Telangana Jana Samiti has announced that it is going to contest in Mahabubnagar, Station Ghanpur and Asifabad. 

The candidates announced by their parties for these constituencies — Erra Sekhar (Mahabubnagar), S. Indira (Station Ghanpur) and Atram Sakku (Asifabad) — are totally confused. They don’t know whether they are to contest or not. The Congress has been silent. 

A Mahakutami leader attributes the confusion to the Congress’ attitude. Instead of just announcing the number of seats allotted to its allies, the Congress should have clarified which constituencies have been allotted to which party.

The parties that form the Mahakutami don’t know from which constituency which party is going to contest. In the Congress’ first and second list the party did not announce its candidate for Rajendranagar. Former home minister Sabitha Indra Reddy’s son Karthik Reddy is aspiring for the Rajendranagar ticket. Suddenly, the TD has announced its candidate for Rajendranagar, as it claims the Rajendranagar seat was allotted to it.

TD leader Sama Rangareddy wants the LB Nagar ticket, but he was told to contest from Ibrahimpatnam. Sama Rangareddy went to Amaravati to discuss this issue with Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and TD national president N. Chandrababu Naidu. 

To further complicate matters, Rangareddy’s District Congress Committee president, K. Mallesh, wants the Ibrahimpatnam ticket and was very critical of his party for allotting the seat to the TD and made several allegations. The situation here is that Sama Rangareddy, who got the Ibrahimpatnam ticket, and K. Mallesh, who was denied the ticket, are both unhappy. 

It is not yet clear whether Sama Rangareddy will contest from Ibrahimpatnam or not. Another contentious constituency is Jangaon.

TJS president Kodandaram had wanted to contest from here so it was allotted to the TJS. This irked former minister and senior Congress leader Ponnala Lakshmaiah so much when he heard of it that he rushed to Delhi to bring pressure on the party leadership to give him the Jangaon ticket. 

Then, the TJS decided to give up the seat to the Congress because it may give the wrong impression that a BC seat was taken away by the Reddy community. 
But when the TJS released its list of the 12 constituencies it was contesting from, Jangaon was included! 

In the meanwhile, Ponnala Lakshmaiah who camped in Delhi to meet Congress president Rahul Gandhi, met him unexpectedly on Thursday along with party leader Ponguleti Sudhakar Reddy. After hearing him out, Rahul told Ponguleti to talk to Telangana Congress affairs in-charge R.C. Khuntia and also to speak to TJS president Kodandaram and resolve the issue. 

It is still not clear who will contest from Jangaon — Congress or TJS.