WARANGAL: With Congress, rebel DCC president Naini Rajender Reddy filing his nomination as an independent candidate from Warangal West, Grand Alliance candidate and senior TDP leader Revuri Prakash Reddy finds himself in a pickle. As part of the seat-sharing agreement, the seat was allotted to TDP who planned to field Prakash Reddy from here. But Rajender Reddy was going to have none of it. He threw himself into the fray against his party’s decision.
Prakash Reddy is quite new to the constituency and he knows he doesn’t stand a chance without Congress’, especially Rajender Reddy’s, help. TDP does have booth-level activists but they do not hold a candle to Congress’ strong presence in the constituency. In fact, Rajender Reddy was so sure of getting the ticket that he had launched a campaign almost six months ago. When it was announced that the seat was being given to TDP, some of Rajender Reddy’s followers got so angry that they locked themselves up in the party office, and declared that they would come out only if the party changed its mind. From the looks of it, it doesn’t seem like they will support or campaign for a TDP candidate. In such a case, it will be difficult for Prakash Reddy to win against the incumbent MLA, TRS’ D Vinay Bhaskar.
On Wednesday, Prakash Reddy tried to extend the olive brand to Rajender Reddy by asking for his help. “I have Rajender Reddy for a long time and I know how disappointed he is. But what can we do? Us parties have come together to defeat TRS, so we have to cooperate with each other. Also, our leader Chandrababu Naidu will talk to Congress leadership about some sort of assurance to Rajender Reddy,” he said.