TPCC President Revanth Reddy and Mulugu MLA Sitakka at the Congress Vijayabheri Sabha, in Palakurthi on Thursday. | Photo Credit: ANI
Ending a week of speculation, the Congress announced its final list of four candidates on Thursday evening, while another was replaced by a new candidate.
Senior leader and former Minister Ramreddy Damodar Reddy has been cleared for the Suryapet constituency. Another aspirant for the seat was Patel Ramesh Reddy, who joined the Congress from the TDP along with the TPCC chief A. Revanth Reddy. In 2018 Assembly elections too he was denied the ticket.
Notable change was in the Tungaturthi reserved constituency where Mandula Samual has been fielded in place of Addanki Dayakar, who lost in the 2014 and 2018 elections with a narrow margin to BRS candidate Gadari Kishore. Mr. Dayakar is a notable face of the party on various platforms. The party seems to have to go with a candidate from the Madiga community, which is numerically strong in the constituency.
Congress first list is a mix of seniors, defectors and newcomers | Analysis
Bathula Laxma Reddy will be the candidate from the Miryalguda constituency and he overcame pressures from the CPI(M) that sought the seat as a part of the alliance that could not be, however, reached. Mohd Mujeeb Ullah Shareef will be the party candidate for Charminar constituency.
The party decided to replace Panatcheru candidate Nilam Madhu Mudiraj with Katta Sreenivas Goud after an uproar. Mr. Madhu Mudiraj was in the BRS till recently and joined the Congress recently seeking the ticket. However, the party cadre opposed it forcing the change.
