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Defected MP and MLA of the BRS gets Congress tickets for Chevella and Secunderabad
Sitting MP and MLA who defected to Congress are among the five candidates announced by the party for Telangana Lok Sabha elections, challenging BJP and BRS candidates.
A sitting MP and a sitting MLA, who defected from Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) into the Congress last week, are among the five names announced by the All-India Congress Committee as contestants for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections from Telangana.
Gaddam Ranjit Reddy, sitting MP from Chevella, was given the Congress ticket from the same constituency. He would be taking on former MP Konda Vishweshwar Reddy contesting on behalf of the Bharatiya Janata Party and senior OBC leader Kasany Gyaneshwar of the BRS.
Similarly, sitting MLA from Khairatabad assembly constituency in Hyderabad Danam Nagender, was selected as the Congress candidate for Secunderabad Lok Sabha constituency. He will be fighting against state BJP president and Union tourism minister G Kishan Reddy. The BRS is yet to announce its candidate there.
Both Ranjith Reddy and Nagender defected from the BRS to the Congress only on March 17.
Another defector from the BRS and former Vikarabad zilla parishad chairperson Sunitha Mahender Reddy has been given the Congress ticket from Malkajgiri parliamentary constituency. She will be fighting against Eatala Rajender of the BJP and Shambhipur Raju of the BRS.
Sunitha, wife of former BRS minister Patnam Mahender Reddy, was originally tipped to be the Congress candidate from Chevella, her native place. But with Ranjith Reddy defecting to the Congress, the party preferred him to Sunitha, who had been moved to Malkajgiri.
The Congress high command finalised the candidature of former MP and PCC senior vice-president Mallu Ravi for Nagarkurnool parliamentary constituency. He will be taking on Bharatiya Janata Party candidate P Bharat, son of sitting MP Pothuganti Ramulu and retired IPS officer R S Praveen Kumar, who quit the Bahujan Samaj Party and joined the BRS a couple of days ago.
Though Ravi had to face a stiff competition from AICC secretary and former MLA S A Sampath Kumar, the high command finally preferred Ravi, cousin of deputy chief minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, for the Nagarkurnool seat.
The party also finalised the candidature of Gaddam Vamsi Krishna, managing director of Visakha Industries and son of former MP Gaddam Vivek, for the Peddapalli parliamentary constituency.
So far, the Congress announced the candidates for nine Lok Sabha seats in Telangana - the four others being - Suresh Kumar Shetkar (Zaheerabad), Challa Vamsichand Reddy (Mahabubnagar), Porika Balram Naik (Mahabubabad) and K Jaiveer Reddy (Nalgonda), whose names were announced in the first list on March 8.
