KCR lists 115 candidates for TS polls, to contest Gajwel and Kamareddy

Hyderabad: BRS president and Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao on Monday sprang a surprise by declaring candidates for 115 of the total 119 Assembly constituencies for the upcoming state polls in one go.

Among the highlights of the list was Rao’s decision to contest two Assembly seats, Gajwel — which he currently represents — and Kamareddy. He also retained the majority of sitting MLAs, dropping only seven, so far.

While keeping the declaration of candidates for four seats under wraps, the Chief Minister expressed confidence in BRS retaining power for a third consecutive term by winning 95-105 seats in the polls.

As expected, the Chief Minister released the list of candidates on the auspicious Shravana Somavaram at Telangana Bhavan. What was not expected was the number of candidates, as sources strongly believed the list would contain a number that would add up to six, Rao’s lucky number. The Chief Minister’s decision to ignore this was highlighted by many.

Among the sitting MLAs to be dropped were Bapu Rao Rathod (Boath), Rekha Naik (Khanapur), Lavudya Ramulu (Wyra), T. Rajaiah (Station Ghanpur), Bethi Subhash Reddy (Uppal), Athram Sakku (Asifabad) and Chennamaneni Ramesh (Vemulawada).

Replacing them on the list were Anil Jadhav (Boath), Bhukya Johnson Rathod Naik (Khanapur), Banoth Madanlal (Wyra), MLC Kadiyam Srihari (Station Ghanpur), Bandari Laxma Reddy (Uppal), Kova Lakshmi (Asifabad) and Chalmeda Lakshmi Narasimha Rao (Vemulawada).

Kalvakuntla Sanjay will contest from Korutla, the seat held by his father Kalvakuntla Vidyasagar Rao. The Chief Minister said that Vidyasagar Rao sought a ticket for his son on age grounds and that this should not be considered as an eighth MLA being dropped.

MLC Padi Kaushik Reddy, meanwhile, has been declared the candidate for Huzurabad, where he will face off with BJP’s Etala Rajendar.

Late MLA G. Sayanna’s daughter L. Nanditha will contest the Secunderabad Cantonment seat, which has been lying vacant since Sayanna’s death in February.

The candidatures for four Assembly constituencies, Nampally, Narsapur, Goshamahal and Jangaon, were kept on hold and would be announced later, the Chief Minister said.

In Narsapur, there is a tough fight between incumbent MLA Chilumula Madan Reddy and TS Women Commission chairperson V. Sunitha Laxma Reddy, while in Jangaon, sitting MLA Muthireddy Yadagiri Reddy is in a face-off with MLC Palla Rajeshwar Reddy. The Chief Minister wants to take time to pacify the sitting MLAs before replacing them.

Among the 115 candidates announced by the Chief Minister, a category-wise break-up indicated 58 OCs, 22 BCs, 12 STs, 20 SCs and 3 minorities. In all, only seven women figured in the list.

Among the OCs, the Reddy community bagged the highest number of seats, at 40, followed by Velamas (11), Kammas (5), and Brahmins and Vyshyas one each.

Among the BCs, Munnuru Kapus bagged 10 seats, followed by Yadavs (5), Gowdas (4) and others.

In the ST category, Lambadas got seven seats and Adivasis got five.

From SC (Dalit) category, Madigas got 11 seats, followed by Malas (8) and others.

The Chief Minister, by announcing the list in August, continued the tradition of declaring party candidates for Assembly polls much in advance of the Election Commission of India issuing a poll notification. In 2018, Rao declared 105 candidates on September 6, three months in advance of the polling date of December 7.