Karimnagar: With the Congress still to announce its Karimnagar candidate for the Lok Sabha elections, a party aspirant, Velichala Rajendar Rao, filed his nomination papers on Monday, accompanied by transport minister Ponnam Prabhakar and Congress MLAs Aadi Srinivas, Medipally Satyam and Kavvamapalli Satyanarayana.
Rajendar Rao submitted his papers to the returning officer, district collector Pamela Satpathy, at the collectorate here. Rajendar Rao, along with the minister and the MLAs, came to the collectorate as a huge rally from Circus Grounds, with a large number of Congress workers led by DCC president K. Satyanarayana, the Manakondur MLA.
There was anxiety when activists received a letter on WhatsApp groups claiming that the party ticket had been allocated to former MLA Aligireddy Praveen Reddy. Local leaders after contacting the high command clarified that the letter was fake.The party's state leadership had sent the AICC two the names of Praveen Reddy and Rajendar Rao, shortlisting them from 14 aspirants. A final decision has been held up reportedly due to the lack of coordination between district leaders and the state leadership.
Rajendar Rao is the son of former MLA Velichala Jagapathi Rao. He contested on a Praja Rajyam Party (PRP) ticket in the 2009 LS polls from Karimnagar and came third with more than one lakh votes.
