Karimnagar: The BJP leadership has announced the names of nine candidates for the erstwhile Karimnagar district which has 13 constituencies.
These names include two MPs-- Bandi Sanjay Kumar of Karimnagar and Dharmapuri Aravind of Nizamabad -- one MLA Etala Rajendar and three women candidates for the Nov 30 polls.
The BJP national general secretary and Karimnagar MP Bandi Sanjay would face backward-class welfare minister Gangula Kamalakar is currently the local MLA.
Nizamabad MP Dharmapuri Aravind entered the fray from the Korutla assembly segment represented by sitting MLA Kalvakuntla Vidhyasagar. Sitting BJP MLA and former minister Etala Rajendar is fielded from Huzurabad Gajwel.
Surprisingly, the BJP announced official spokesperson Rani Rudrama Devi’s name for Sircilla, where she would take on IT minister KT Rama Rao, who currently represents the seat. She hails from Narsampet of Warangal district.
Former MLA Bodiga Shoba would contest from Choppadandi, former municipal chairperson Boga Shravani from Jagtial and Palakurthy ZPTC Kandula Sandhya Rani, who recently joined the BJP, from Ramagundam assembly segments.
Former MLA Arepally Mohan, who also joined BJP recently, got the MLA ticket and would contest from Manakondur. S Kumar, who contested as MP in the 2019 LS polls from Peddapalli, would contest from the Dharmapuri assembly segment.
The BJP is yet to announce the names for four assembly segments -- Vemulawada, Mathani, Peddapalli, and Husnabad.
The Congress party had announced the names of seven candidates, which included the sitting MLA D Sridhar Babu from Manthani, MLC T Jeevan Reddy from Jagtial, Aadi Srinivas from Vemulawada, Adluri Laxman Kumar from Dharmapuri, Ch Vijaya Ramana Rao from Peddapalli, Dr K Satyanarayana from Manakondur and Raj Tagore Makkan Singh from Ramagundam.
Weeks ago, the ruling BRS party announced the names of several sitting MLAs but replaced Vemulawada MLA Chennamaneni Ramesh Babu with Chalmeda Laxminarasimha Rao. Also, the Korutla ticket went to MLA Kalvakuntla Vidhya Sagar Rao’s son, Dr Sanjay.
