Hyderabad: In less than 24-hours after emerging as the “giant killer” in terms of beating sitting MLA and Congress veteran P. Shankar Rao in bagging the party ticket to contest from the Secunderabad Cantonment Assembly constituency, M. Krishank got a taste of the vagaries of politics when senior party leaders informed him about being dropped from the list of contestants on Tuesday.
T-JAC leader Gajjela Kantam was named as the Congress’s official candidate for Cantonment Assembly segment instead.
While Mr Krishank is from Mala community, Mr Kantam is from Madiga community.
A dejected Mr Krishank, who is just 25 years old, said: “I wanted to represent the students community and their aspirations in the state Assembly. But the party has other plans for me. I will continue to work for Congress but yes the news was painful,” he said.
Speaking to this correspondent, Mr Krishank said two other student leaders Suman from Peddapalli and Pidamarthi Ravi from Sattupalli Assembly constituency who fought for Telangana state are in the fray from different parties.
“I hope at least they make it to the Assembly and represent the agenda of the youth for better education and employment opportunities,” Mr Krishank said
Meanwhile, supporters of Mr Shankar Rao who was denied a ticket are exerting pressure on him to enter the poll fray as a rebel.
Mr Shankar Rao who had commissioned a statue of Sonia Gandhi and is in the process of constructing a temple for her as a thanks giving for giving T State, said, "I have been a hardcore loyalist
of the Nehru-Gandhi family. I have been waging a lone battle against corruption and have been instrumental
in exposing the scams of Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, Polavaram project, mining baron Gali Janardhan Reddy to name a few. I hope justice will be done to me by the party," he said.
Asked if would contest as a rebel, Shankar Rao said, "There is time till 3pm on Wednesday for filing nominations, I will take a decision at the appropriate time," he said.
