Reddys likely to get most Congress tickets in Telangana elections
After Reddy’s, Congress leaders said, the Other Backward Castes would be the second biggest group to get about 20 tickets
The Congress list of candidates for Telangana is likely to be dominated by the land-owning, influential Reddy community that dominates business and politics in the state having a stamp of state party president Revanth Reddy, who joined the party in 2017, said two senior Congress leaders, who are part of Central Election Committee
“Many tickets are being given to the Reddys, a number that is higher than anticipated by any of us,” said a Congress spokesperson who has knowledge of the ticket distribution. The Reddys in Telangana account for nearly 6% of the total four crore population and the decision to accord a higher number of seats is part of a decades-long trend that has helped the Congress consolidate power while handing them big majorities in election years.
In the list released in late August, the Bharat Rashtra Samithi, run by Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, from the Velama community, has also acknowledged the ‘might of Reddys’ and has given 40 tickets to them.
As per party leaders, the Congress is looking to make public its list of 119 candidates after October 20 after the first leg of the bus yatra campaign starting next week. Both Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi are expected to participate in the yatra. “The bus yatra in Telangana will mimic a similar campaign in Karnataka that was undertaken when the state went to polls in May this year,” said a senior Congress leader.
“The final announcement of candidates is slated after the first leg of the bus yatra to safeguard the Gandhis from the ire of discontented candidates whose names have been omitted from the list,” said the spokesperson who is privy to the selection list.
After Reddy’s, party leaders said, the Other Backward Castes would be the second biggest group to get about 20 tickets. About 10 seats have been reserved for the minorities in the old city with the women likely to get about 7-8 tickets, the same number given out by the ruling BRS as well. The Velamas community has been earmarked about 4-5 tickets and a handful to the Kammas, who could not be ignored being the arch rivals of the Reddys, may get tickets.
The Congress leaders said those who have defected from the BRS such as Mynampally Hanumanth Rao, Vemula Veeresham, Tummala Nageshwara Rao, and Kumbham Anil Kumar Reddy are likely to get tickets, two Congress leaders said. Another hopeful aspirant from the Congress is Srikanth Bandaru eyeing the Gajwel constituency where he is hopeful about pipping Narasa Reddy to get a ticket.
The leaders also pointed out that several veteran Congress and former ministers may not get tickets as their ratings in the internal surveys have not been good, with the party looking at a “generational shift” through ticket distribution. Former Congress minister in combined Andhra, Ponnala Lakshmiah, and former member of parliament, Ponnam Prabhakar, are among the senior leaders, who may not get party tickets.
“Ponnala Lakshmaiah lost the last election and though he is a representative of the backward castes and a former PCC president. A higher likelihood of winnability seems to be the one additional box that candidates need to tick after the qualifier caste box is checked to secure a ticket,” said Susarla Nagesh, a veteran who has covered more than 10 state and parliamentary elections.
The Congress is upbeat about winning Telangana in December polls even though it won just 19 seats in 2018 and 21 seats in 2014 - the year the Telangana state was formed. The BRS, then TRS, got 88 seats in 2018 and 63 in 2014.