Hyderabad: The race for securing the TRS ticket to contest the Munugode Assembly byelection has begun even though Congress MLA Komatireddy Rajgopal Reddy is yet to submit his resignation letter to the Assembly speaker.
Aspirants are already queuing up before party president and Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao and working president and IT minister K.T. Rama Rao to press for their candidature for the bypoll.
When Rajgopal Reddy announced his resignation on Tuesday, Nalgonda TRS legislator Kancharla Bhupal Reddy met Chandrashekar Rao and lobbied for a ticket to his brother Kancharla Krishna Reddy.
Party sources said TS Legislative Council chairman Gutha Sukhender Reddy had evinced an interest to contest and sent feelers to the Chief Minister. He also reportedly made a request to consider his son Gutha Amit Reddy in case the party wanted him to continue him as Council Chairman.
Meanwhile, leaders from undivided Nalgonda district on Wednesday met Chandrashekar Rao and Rama Rao to seek a ticket either for themselves or their kin or supporters.
The TRS leadership is learnt to have made it clear to them that the party will commission surveys to assess the winnability of the aspiring candidates. Surveys by I-PAC teams of political strategist Prashant Kishor will play a key role in the selection, it is learnt.
TRS which represents 11 of 12 seats in Nalgonda district is keen to reaffirm its political supremacy by bagging Munugode. The party leadership laid special focus on pending funds and projects to Munugode to lure voters.
The Chief Minister and Rama Rao are learnt to have instructed the party district leaders to submit village and mandal-wise proposals on pending funds and works in Munugode constituency, which could be taken up and completed before the bypoll notification is issued.
Energy minister G. Jagadish Reddy, who is party's incharge for Nalgonda district, is said to be batting for the candidature of K. Prabhakar Reddy, who had won from Munugode in 2014 but had lost in 2018.
Former Bhongir Lok Sabha member Boora Narsaiah Goud, former MLC Karne Prabhakar and Karnati Vidyasagar are all reportedly seeking a ticket under the BC quota.
