Hyderabad: The Congress’ release of the first list for 55 constituencies sparked dissent among those denied tickets. Many of the protests were held at Gandhi Bhavan, the state unit headquarters.
Supporters of Chintapally Jagadeeshwar Rao ransacked the party office in Kollapur after he was denied a ticket. They were angry at party leadership for allotting the ticket to Jupally Krishna Rao, who joined the Congress from BRS in August.
Uppal ticket aspirant Ragidi Lakshma Reddy tendered his resignation from the party after he was denied a ticket.
On the whole, there were multiple serious contenders for 11 Assembly constituencies for which the candidates were declared in the first list. The contenders include Nagam Janardhan Reddy (Nagarkurnool), Chintapally Jagadeeswar Rao (Kollapur), Ragidi Lakshma Reddy (Uppal), Singireddy Harivardhan Reddy (Medchal), Narsareddy Bhupathi Reddy (Quthbullapur), Sangishetty Jagadeeshwar Rao (Musheerabad), Marri Aditya Reddy (Sanathnagar), Sunkireddy Raghavendar Reddy (Kalwakurthy), Mettu Sai Kumar (Goshamahal), Chekolekar Srinivas (Malakpet) and Alugadda Praveen Yadav (Shadnagar).
Of them, C. Jagadeeshwar Rao and R. Lakshma Reddy have already raised a banner of revolt soon after the list was announced on Sunday.
The Congress leadership shifted its focus to pacify the disgruntled leaders soon after the announcement of the candidates list, forming a committee of senior leaders to reconcile dissenters.
The committee is led by veteran leader K. Jana Reddy and comprises AICC Telangana affairs incharge Manikrao Thakre, Deepadas Munshi and Meenakshi Natarajan. They are reaching out to disgruntled leaders to convince them to stay with the Congress, promising them nominated posts after the Congress comes to power.
Congress workers from Gadwal staged a protest at Gandhi Bhavan, opposing the ticket to Saritha Thirupathaiah, who joined the party from the BRS recently. They raised slogans against Revanth Reddy and burnt his effigy.
Supporters of former MLA Malreddy Rangareddy also rushed to Gandhi Bhavan and locked its gate after his name was missing from the first list.
Supporters of Medchal aspirant Singireddy Harivardhan Reddy staged a protest at party's district after the ticket was allotted to Thotakura Vajresh Yadav. Supporters of both leaders clashed with each other.
TPCC vice-president Mallu Ravi faced the heat of a group of minority leaders who barged into his press conference at Gandhi Bhavan. They asked him how the party fielded little-known politicians and non-locals in the Old City of Hyderabad. They raised slogans against Revanth Reddy, forcing Ravi to call off the press conference.
