Ending suspense over the contestants for the parliamentary elections, Telangana Rashtra Samithi president and chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Thursday announced the list of candidates for 17 Lok Sabha seats, after intense exercise.
The TRS president decided to drop four sitting MPs – A P JIthender Reddy from Mahbubnagar, D Sitaram Naik from Mahabubabad, Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy from Khammam and Gutha Sukhender Reddy from Nalgonda parliamentary constituencies.
Sukhender Reddy is being nominated to the Legislative Council and might be given the cabinet berth later.
In their places, the TRS chief has fielded Manne Srinivasa Reddy, Malothu Kavitha, Nama Nageshwar Rao and Vemireddy Narasimha Reddy from Mahabubnagar, Mahabubabad, Khammam and Nalgonda respectively.
In Peddapalli Lok Sabha seat, which was represented by Balka Suman who is now elected as an MLA from Chennur, the chief minister has announced the candidature of Borlakunta Venkatesh Nethakani. Initial reports said former MP G Vivek has been given the ticket from Peddapalli, but in the final list, his name was missing.
Interestingly, Venkatesh Nethakani and Nama Nageshwara Rao defected from Congress and the Telugu Desam Party into the TRS only on Friday.
Apart from Khammam and Peddapalli, KCR has fielded new candidates in Chevella, Secunderabad, Malkajgiri and Nagarkurnool constituencies as well.
In Chevella, where sitting MP Konda Vishweshwar Reddy defected to the Congress before the December 7 assembly elections, the party has fielded big industrialist Dr Ranjit Reddy, as predicted in these columns.
In Secunderabad and Nagarkurnool, where the sitting MPs are from opposition parties – Bandaru Dattatreya from BJP and Nandi Yellaiah from the Congress, the TRS has fielded Talasani Sai Yadav, son of minister Talasani Srinivasa Yadav and former MLA P Ramulu respectively.
Contrary to the speculations, KCR is not contesting the Lok Sabha elections to play a bigger role at the national level. May be, he will take a decision after watching the outcome of the Lok Sabha elections.
In the event of a third front coming to power, he will make one of the MPs resign and contest the by-elections to Lok Sabha.
