HYDERABAD: Suspense continues over the release of BJP's first list of candidates which was expected to be officially released on Saturday night. However, leaks from the party leadership revealed on Saturday, that candidates have been finalised for around 55 assembly constituencies out of the total 119 assembly constituencies in Telangana.
The leaks have revealed that the list comprised 20 candidates from the backward classes, 14 from the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, 14 from the Reddy community and 6 from the Velama community.
BJP state president G Kishan Reddy, BJP state elections in-charge Prakash Javadekar, and BJP state in-charge Sunil Bansal were known to have called around 40-50 selected candidates on Saturday to congratulate them and to give them directions on buckling up their shoes for the big fight.
The leaders were known to have asked the candidates to start aggressively campaigning in their respective constituencies immediately, and to meet the local BJP leaders to seek their support.
An interesting development was the allotment of 12 seats to Jana Sena by BJP, as part of their seat-sharing arrangement. Most of these constituencies are part of the erstwhile Khammam district. Only Kukatpally is one urban constituency given to Jana Sena.
It is known that Kishan Reddy and BJP MP K Laxman had met Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan at the latter's residence last week. Jana Sena had proposed to field 32 of its candidates whom Pawan wanted to field.
Pawan was known to have been interested in fielding his foot soldiers from more urban constituencies, but BJP leadership had insisted that he fielded his party's candidates from rural areas as well.
Jana Sena got Wyra, Madhira, Khammam, Kothagudem, Aswaraopet, Palair, Sathupalli, Yellandhu, Kukatpalli, Nakrekal, Kodad and Palakurthi as part of the seat-sharing understanding between the two parties.
On the expected lines, BJP MLA and the party's state election management committee chairman Eatala Rajender will be pitted against Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao in Gajwel, apart from him contesting from Huzurabad constituency as well.
Karimnagar MP and BJP general secretary is being fielded from Karimnagar constituency.
Prominent BJP leaders, including Kishan Reddy, Komatireddy Rajgopal Reddy, DK Aruna and BJP MP K Laxman were not known to have figured in the first list, which raised speculations on whether these former or present MPs will be contesting in the state elections.
The unreleased list saw much 'Nari Shakti' in it, with representation from strong women leaders making it to the nominations round.
Former TDP MLA Annapurnamma was reportedly chosen to represent the party from Balkonda constituency.
Chandupatla Keerthi Reddy, the daughter-in-law of BJP stalwart Chandupatla Janga Reddy has been the candidate for Bhupalapalli.
BJP state spokesperson Rani Rudrama is being pitted against BRS working president KT Rama Rao from Sircilla.
Boga Shravani, the municipal chairperson from Jagtial municipality, who switched from BRS to BJP, will contest from Jagtial.
Other women power in the saffron party's arsenal are Rao Padma from Warangal West constituency, Atunatara from Jukkal, Bodige Shobha from Choppadandi and Sridevi from Bellampalli among others.
Suspense continues on whether the party will be revoking the suspension on Goshamahal MLA T Raja Singh, and whether he will be fielded from that constituency again.
Shortlisted candidates from BJP as of Saturday:
Kollapur: Sudhakar Rao
Kalwakurthy: Talloju Achary
Choppadandi: Bodige Shobha
Maheshwaram: A Sriramulu Yadav
Sircilla: Rani Rudrama
Narayankhed: Sangappa
Bhuvanagiri: Gudur Narayana Reddy
Quthbullapur: Kuna Srisailam Goud
Chennur: G Vivek Venkatswamy
Jukkal: Arunatara
Korutla: D Arvind
Bellampalli: Sridevi
Balkonda: Annapurnamma
Warangal West: Rao Padma
Warangal East: Errabelli Pradeep Rao
Bhupalapalli: Chandupatla Keerthi Reddy
Karimnagar: Bandi Sanjay
Gajwel: Eatala Rajender
Huzurabad: Eatala Rajender
Patancheru: Nandeeshwar Goud
Jagtial: Boga Sravani
Dubbak: M Raghunandan Rao
Adilabad: Payal Shankar
Ibrahimpatnam: Dayanand Goud
Suryapet: Sankineni Venkateshwar Rao
Boath: Soyam Bapurao
Nagarjunsagar: Nivedhita Reddy
Mahabubnagar: AP Jithender Reddy
Khanapur: Ramesh Rathod
Nirmal: A Maheshwar Reddy
Jangaon: Dushyant Reddy
Andhole: Babumohan
Dharmapuri: S Kumar
Uppal: NVSS Prabhakar
Huzurnagar: Srilatha Reddy
Vemulawada: Chennamaneni Vikas Rao
Sirpur: Palvai Harish
Mudhole: Rama Rao Patel
Nizamabad Urban: Dhanpal Suryanarayana Gupta.