Hyderabad: With the TRS refusing to strike an alliance, the Congress has been forced into a balancing act while announcing 111 Assembly candidates in Telangana. The party has denied tickets to family members of nominees, and also to six sitting MLAs including controversial former minister P. Shankar Rao from the Secunderabad Cantonment segment.
The party has cleared three-time Rajya Sabha member V. Hanumantha Rao for the Amberpet Assembly segment, thereby allowing him to join the race for Chief Minister in Telangana.
The other aspirants for the CM’s post are PCC president Ponnala Lakshmaiah (Jangaon), D. Srinivas (Nizamabad Rural), K. Jana Reddy (Nagarjunasagar), N. Uttam Kumar Reddy (Huzurnagar), Damodar Raja Narasimha (Andhole), J. Geetha Reddy (Zaheerabad), D.K. Aruna (Gadwal) and D. Sridhar Babu (Manthani).
Following the thumb rule of not allowing family members to contest, the Congress denied tickets to several aspirants including Vaishali Reddy, daughter-in-law of Mr Lakshmaiah. Former minister Sabita Indra Reddy was denied a ticket from Maheswaram, which was allotted to the CPI. Her son Kartik Reddy was cleared for Chevella LS seat.
Ms D.K. Aruna’s brother C. Rammohan Reddy was again offered a ticket from Makthal in Mahbubnagar and former minister D.S. Redya Naik was nominated from Dornakal in Warangal district and his daughter and sitting MLA Kavitha from the adjacent Mahbubabad seat.
