HYDERABAD: When Congress announced its final list of candidates, including more names of leaders from the disadvantaged sections of the society, the grand old party, to use the clichéd expression, has killed two birds with one stone.
Unveiled just a day before the final day of filing nominations, the final list would have not only silenced the opponents who criticised the party for not including the leaders downtrodden communities in their earlier lists but succeeded in attracting those very communities to its side.
The clever move not only helped the party to bring BCs to their side but ensured ‘social justice’ by way of creating a balanced representation from Madigas and Malas in SCs, and Adivasis and Lambadas in STs. While there are 19 SC-reserved and 12-ST reserved constituencies, in the remaining seats Congress allotted about 25 tickets to BCs in this polls. Another big gain for Congress is it was able to woo popular BC leader R Krishnaiah to its side.
Several leaders from BC communities like Ponnala Lakshmaiah, Ponnam Prabhakar, Bhikshamaiah Goud, Konda Surekha, Sravan Dasoju and others also feature in the Congress list. Initially, Congress agreed to contest in about 94 seats as part of Grand Alliance and announced all its candidates till Sunday night. However, on Monday it has given B-Forms to more contestants taking the total number of its candidates officially contesting to about 100. Among the total 100 contestants who received B-Forms, SC/ST and BCs formed about 55 percent and remaining were OCs.
Among the OCs, Reddys got a lion share with about 36 seats given to the dominant community. Loyal and powerful Velamas also were given preference with four seats allotted to the community. Former minister D Sridhar Babu was among the two leaders from the Brahmin community who were allotted the Congress tickets. Though Madigas got more seats among SCs, Mala leaders like Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, were also given seats to strike a balance.