HYDERABAD: The BJP has started working on its candidates list and the names will be announced soon, state BJP president and Union minister G. Kishan Reddy said on Tuesday. The party would go it alone and contest all 119 Assembly constituencies, he said.
“After the September 17 ‘Telangana Liberation Day’ celebrations we will take up state-wide yatras and meet people from all the constituencies,” he added.
Speaking with media persons in New Delhi, Kishan Reddy said an election committee will be formed to shortlist candidates. According to several party leaders, the BJP has around 40 to 50 ‘good candidates’ and at least 30 of them are considered to be strong enough to win the elections.
The sources said the problem the party was facing was in finding another 30 who could take on both the BRS and the Congress, though party leaders say they have no less than three potential candidates for each constituency.
Meanwhile, the party announced that Channamaneni Vikas Rao, son of former Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao, will join the BJP on Wednesday in Hyderabad in the presence of Kishan Reddy and senior leaders.
Back in Delhi, on the issue of whether D. Raja Singh, the Goshamahal MLA who was suspended from the party a year ago, will re-contest on a BJP ticket, Kishan Reddy said: “There is no reason for anyone to get agitated on this issue. The party will take a decision on Raja Singh.”
In Hyderabad, Raja Singh, speaking with reporters in Hyderabad, expressed confidence that he would be in the fray from Goshamahal again for the third time on a BJP ticket. “I will contest only on a BJP ticket and will not join any other party,” he said.
Kishan Reddy welcomed the reduction in domestic cooking gas cylinder prices by the Centre by ₹200 per cylinder and added that though the Centre reduced fuel prices twice, Telangana has refused to do so burdening the common people.
