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Telangana polls: 3 MPs fielded; T Raja returns to fray as BJP revokes suspension
Elections to the 119-member Telangana assembly will be held on November 30 and results will be announced on December 3
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday released its first list of 52 candidates for the Telangana assembly elections scheduled for next month, fielding three Lok Sabha MPs and renominating legislator T Raja Singh from his Goshamahal seat after revoking his suspension effected last year for his alleged remarks against Prophet Muhammad.
Elections to the 119-member Telangana assembly will be held on November 30 and results will be announced on December 3.
The BJP has fielded its Huzurabad MLA Eatala Rajender against Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao from Gajwel constituency. Rajender — who joined the BJP in June 2021 after being with the ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), formerly known as the Telangana Rashtra Samilthi, for nearly 18 years — will also contest from his existing Huzurabad seat.
KCR, as the chief minister and BRS president is popularly known as, is also contesting from the Kamareddy seat. The BJP has fielded former Nizamabad zilla parishad chairman K Venkata Ramana Reddy from the seat.
The BJP’s first list, which was released on Sunday after days of brainstorming, featured party’s three of the four sitting Lok Sabha members — Bandi Sanjay, former state BJP chief and Karimnagar MP, Soyam Bapu Rao, Adilabad MP, and Dharmapuri Arvind, who represents Nizamabad parliamentary seat. Sanjay, Rao and Arvind will contest the upcoming polls from Karimnagar, Boath (ST) and Korutla assembly constituencies, respectively.
Secunderabad MP and Union tourism minister G Kishan Reddy, who is also the party’s Telangana unit chief, has not been named in the first list.
The BJP on Sunday lifted the suspension of Goshamahal MLA T Raja Singh “after due consideration of his explanation in response to the show cause notice served by the party.” Singh, who was suspended by the party on September 2 last year over his alleged controversial remarks on the Prophet, will contest from his current constituency.
“I express my heartfelt gratitude to the BJP leadership for nominating me as the BJP’s candidate in the #Goshamahal Constituency for the upcoming assembly elections,” Singh posted on X.
The party has also renominated sitting legislator M Raghunandan Rao from Dubbak. However, former MLA Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy, who had unsuccessfully contested the bypoll to the Munugode constituency last year, was not named in the list. “While he wants to contest from Munugode again, the party wants him to move to LB Nagar,” a BJP functionary familiar with the development said, requesting anonymity.
Senior BJP leader and Rajya Sabha member Dr K Laxman, who was expected to contest from Musheerabad seat, opted out from the upcoming polls, while former minister and BJP national vice-president DK Aruna’s name is also missing from the first list, the functionary said.
The party has fielded former TV news anchor Rani Rudrama Devi against KCR’s son and BRS working president KT Rama Rao from Siricilla, while it is yet to announce its candidate for Siddipet, represented by KCR’s nephew T Harish Rao.
Of the 52 candidates named in the BJP’s first list, 19 are from the other backward classes (OBC) communities, eight scheduled caste (SC)and six from scheduled tribes (ST). At least 19 candidates belong to general categories, including 12 Reddys, five Velamas and one each from Vysya and Agarwal communities. The list also includes 12 women candidates.
The BJP has given tickets to former legislators — 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).
The BRS was the first to announce its candidates for 115 out of the 119 constituencies on August 21 itself, while the Congress released its first list of 55 candidates on October 15.
In 2018, the BRS, then known as TRS, had won 88 of the 119 assembly seats. The Congress was second with 19 seats and the AIMIM was third with seven MLAs. The TDP had won two seats and the BJP only one seat. After the elections, 12 Congress MLAs, two TDP MLAs and two independents joined the BRS, taking its tally to 104 seats. The BJP improved its tally to three by winning two bypolls.
Reacting to the development, BRS spokesperson Dasoju Sravan said the BJP’s first list shows that the party was unable to find suitable candidates in many constituencies.
On pitching Eatala Rajender against KCR from Gajwel, Sravan said it appeared the BJP didn’t want Rajender to win from either of the two seats. “In Gajwel, he is bound to lose anyway, but at the same time, he cannot win even Huzurabad now, as he won’t be able to concentrate on both the constituencies,” Sravan said.
He also described as a “big drama” the suspension of Raja Singh and its revocation. “Ideally, he should have been disqualified from his assembly membership for his controversial comments, but the BJP leadership has conveniently ignored him. Now that the elections are approaching, it has lifted the suspension only to appease its Hindu vote bank,” the BRS spokesperson added.
Political analyst Rama Krishna Sangem said the BJP’s list was “disappointing”, as it came very late as compared to its rivals BRS and the Congress. “It seems the party waited for disgruntled leaders from these two parties to defect to the BJP, but that did not happen. The names of candidates for several key constituencies are missing, which indicates that it doesn’t have enough credible candidates,” Sangem said.
