Hyderabad: The BJP’s Central Election Committee on Wednesday announced the names of 35 candidates for the ensuing assembly elections on Thursday. With this, the party has announced candidates for 88 constituencies as the first list had 52 candidates and the second list had a lone candidate A.P. Mithun Kumar Reddy.
The current list of 35 consists of a lone woman candidate from Huzurnagar Challa Srilatha Reddy, who will be pit against Shanampudi Saidireddy from the BRS. It also contains three ST candidates and five SC candidates. A former journalist, Jenewade Sangappa, has been given a ticket from Narayankhed. Senior leader Pally Babu Mohan, who was peeved at the party for not declaring his candidature in the first list from Andole, has allotted his traditional seat.
Of the 88 candidates, 32 are from Backward Classes, 13 from SC, nine from ST, one Kamma, one Brahmin, one Velama and 24 Reddys.
With the release of another nine names for the seats in Hyderabad, the BJP has so far announced 20 of the 24 contestants within the GHMC limits. The party announced candidates for Uppal, L.B. Nagar, Rajendranagar, Musheerabad, Malakpet, Amberpet, Jubilee Hills, Sananthnagar, Secunderabad seats in the city.
Four turncoats, who joined the BJP recently from the BRS, have also been accommodated. Marri Shashidhar Reddy, who joined the Congress a year back, has been given ticket from Sanathnagar.
Notable among those who did not get a seat from Musheerabad is Bandaru Vijaya Lakshmi, the daughter of Bandaru Dattatreya, currently the Governor of Haryana. It has been given to Poosa Raju, national OBC executive member.
Sources further indicate that seats like Vemulawada and Husnabad have been kept pending owing to competition between the contenders from the Eatala Rajender and Bandi Sanjay groups.
Another notable feature from the list is it confirms the BJP’s alliance with the Jana Sena which has been seeking the Kukatpally and Serilingampally constituencies and the erstwhile Khammam district.
The party has desisted from announcing its candidates from these seats as talks are still underway. Pawan Kalyan, who is out of the country, will be a part of the talks once he is back. He is reportedly seeking Tandur, Kothagudem, Wyra, Kodada, Khammam, Aswaraopet, Nagarkurnool, Kukatpally and Serilingampally assembly constituencies.
The BJP leaders from these constituencies have not held back from making their displeasure known to the leadership who pacified them that they would not lose their seats. They were told the issue will be discussed with leaders in Delhi but the list doesn’t seem to have taken their concerns into account.
Top contenders from the list
1. Marri Shashidhar Reddy
2. Babu Mohan
3. N.V.S.S. Prabhakar
4. Krishna Yadav
5. Challa Srilatha Reddy
