Hyderabad: The TRS leadership is caught between the selecting a candidate either from the Reddy or the Backward Classes (BCs) communities for the Munugode Assembly bypoll.
With leaders from both communities lobbying hard for party ticket to their respective communities, party president and Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao is learnt to have told them that he was not in a hurry to name the party's candidate and asked them to wait until the Congress declares its nominee.
Since the BJP was all set to field Komatireddy Rajgopal Reddy, and the Congress may nominate Palvai Sravanthi Reddy, TRS BC leaders want the party leadership to play the 'BC card' and field a candidate from the community which constitutes a majority of Munugode voters.
The CM wants to wait for clarity on the Congress candidate to emerge before making a decision on the TRS nominee. TRS leaders from Nalgonda district met the CM on Tuesday and requested that a Reddy or a BC candidate be fielded.
Former Bhongir Lok Sabha member Boora Narsaiah Goud, former MLC Karne Prabhakar, local leader Karnati Vidyasagar (Padmashali), and Naraboyina Ravi (Mudiraj) are said to be seeking the ticket under the BC quota. Ravi, a realtor and builder with operations in Karnataka, is said to be the most financially secure among BC leaders and is seeking a ticket to challenge Rajgopal Reddy.
From the Reddy community, Nalgonda TRS MLA Kancharla Bhupal Reddy is seeking a ticket for his brother Kancharla Krishna Reddy. TS Legislative Council chairman Gutha Sukender Reddy is also reportedly seeking a ticket either to him or his son Gutha Amit Reddy. Then, of course, there is Palvai Sravanthi Reddy.
G.Jagadish Reddy, energy minister and TRS incharge for Nalgonda district, wants the leadership to follow tradition and give another chance to K. Prabhakar Reddy, who won Munugode in 2014 but lost in 2018, as was done with Saidi Reddy at Huzurnagar. Saidi Reddy lost to former Congress TPCC Uttam Kumar Reddy in 2018 but won the same seat in a byelection in October 2021.
