BJP releases first list for Telangana polls; Eatala Rajender to fight against KCR
Former minister and BJP lawmaker Eatala Rajender will fight against Bharat Rashtra Samithi president and chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao from Gajwel assembly constituency
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday released its first list of 52 candidates for the 119-member Telangana assembly elections, scheduled to be held on November 30.
Former minister and BJP lawmaker from Huzurabad assembly constituency, Eatala Rajender will fight against Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) president and chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao from Gajwel assembly constituency.
While the name of state BJP president and Union minister for tourism G Kishan Reddy, who represents Secunderabad parliamentary constituency, doesn’t figure in the list of candidates for the assembly polls, the three other MPs – Bandi Sanjay from Karimnagar, Soyam Bapu Rao from Adilabad and Dharmapuri Arvind have been fielded for the assembly polls.
Sanjay will contest from Karimnagar assembly seat. Soyam Bapu Rao would fight the polls from Boath (ST) constituency in Adilabad and Arvind from Korutla in Jagitial district.
The party has renamed sitting MLA, M Raghunandan Rao from Dubbak. But the name of former MLA Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy, who unsuccessfully contested the by-elections to his Munugode constituency last year, does not figure in the list. While he wants to contest from Munugode again, the party wants him to move to L B Nagar, a party leader familiar with the development said.
Another senior BJP leader and Rajya Sabha member Dr K Laxman, who was also expected to be fielded from Musheerabad assembly constituency, opted out of the contest and the name of former minister and BJP national vice-president D K Aruna is also missing in the list, the BJP leader quoted above said.
The BJP national leadership also announced lifting of year-long suspension on T Raja Singh, party MLA from Goshamahal assembly constituency in Hyderabad “after due consideration of his explanation in response to the show cause notice served by the party.”
Singh was suspended on September 2 last year after his alleged blasphemous remarks on Prophet Mohammad, as a counter to the BRS government allowing stand-up comedian Munawar Faruqui to hold a show in Hyderabad in August 2022, triggered a nation-wide controversy.
Singh’s name figures in the list of candidates released by the party and he would be contesting from the same constituency.
Rajender, who has been fielded against KCR, will also contest from his original constituency Huzurabad.
He had been with the BRS (earlier Telangana Rashtra Samithi or TRS) for nearly 18 years and had been a trusted lieutenant of KCR. He held several positions in the erstwhile TRS, including TRS legislature party leader in the assembly and a minister in the state cabinet holding important portfolios like finance, backward classes welfare and health, before he was sacked from the party in May 2021 on disciplinary grounds.
He came out of the party in June 2021 and joined the BJP. He resigned from the TRS and contested the by-elections to Huzurabad seat to win the same with a big margin of over 20,000 votes. He has since been playing an important role in the state BJP.
In Kamareddy assembly constituency, which KCR has chosen as a second constituency, the BJP has given the ticket to former Nizamabad zilla parishad chairman K Venkata Ramana Reddy.
While the party has pitched former television news channel anchor Rani Rudrama Devi against KCR’s son and BRS working president K T Rama Rao from Siricilla, it has not chosen a candidate for Siddipet, represented by KCR’s nephew T Harish Rao.
The BJP has given tickets to former MLAs, including A Maheshwar Reddy from Nirmal, T Aruna Tara from Jukkal (SC), Bodiga Shobha from Choppadandi (SC), Arepalli Mohan from Manakondur (SC), Kuna Srisailam Goud from Qutbullapur, Chintala Ramachandra Reddy from Khairatabad, Sankineni Venkateshwar Rao from Suryapet, G Vijayarama Rao from Station Ghanpur (SC) and Ravindra Naik from Yellandu (ST).