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Telangana: BJP gears up for Lok Sabha elections, begins selection of candidates
The state election committee of the Telangana BJP had met under the leadership of party president G Kishan Reddy on Monday.
The Telangana unit of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has kickstarted the preparations for the upcoming parliamentary elections by starting the process of selection of candidates for contesting on 17 Lok Sabha seats in the state, people familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.
The state election committee of the Telangana BJP, which met under the leadership of party president G Kishan Reddy on Monday, decided to send the names of five probable candidates for each seat to the party’s central election committee by next week, they said.
The closed-door meeting was attended by BJP parliamentary board member K Laxman, party national vice-president DK Aruna, former MP AP Jitender Reddy and senior leaders P Muralidhara Rao, Etala Rajender and party in-charge of Telangana affairs Arvind Menon, among others.
According to a senior BJP leader aware of the development, the selection of candidates would take into consideration various factors, such as caste equations, internal surveys and winnability. “We want to finish off the selection process at the earliest, so that the candidates can get into action mode well ahead of the announcement of the election schedule,” the party leader said.
However, the party leader said, there are some obvious candidates who would be obvious choices in their respective constituencies. They include: G Kishan Reddy from Secunderabad, Bandi Sanjay from Karimnagar, Dharmapuri Arvind from Nizamabad, Konda Vishweshwar Reddy from Chevella and Boora Narasaiah Goud from Bhongir parliamentary constituencies.
“Another senior leader Eatala Rajender is evincing interest in contesting from Malkajgiri, but there is a huge competition for this seat. The party has asked Rajender to consider contesting from Medak,” the party leader quoted above said.
For other seats, the party will send five names for each of them and the BJP central screening committee will take a call after discussing with the state party leadership, he added.
“The party is fully geared up to face the Lok Sabha elections and there is a heavy competition for every seat. We are confident of winning at least 10 Lok Sabha seats from Telangana this time, as Modi magic is spreading across the country,” Nizamabad MP Dharmapuri Arvind said on Tuesday.
Earlier, the BJP state executive committee also met at the party office on Monday to chalk out the campaign strategy for the Lok Sabha elections in Telangana. The party decided to take up yatras and roadshows across the state from February 20 to March 1.
Kishan Reddy told reporters that the roadshows and yatras were aimed at reaching out to the people and seeking their support for the upcoming general elections. The road shows would be held in five regions across the state.
“The mass-contact programme would cover all 17 Lok Sabha constituencies, 33 districts and all mandal headquarters in the state,” the BJP president said, adding that all important leaders, including MPs and MLAs, would participate in them.
