HYDERABAD: AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge has approved the candidature of Naveen Yadav for the Jubilee Hills byelection scheduled to be held on November 11.
The Congress made the announcement two days after Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy met Kharge in Bengaluru.
The ruling party picked Naveen, a BC leader, in line with its commitment to social justice and also to consolidate its BC vote bank.
With its decisions to issue a GO providing 42% reservations to BCs and pick a BC candidate for the byelection, the Congress is hoping to win not just the Jubilee Hills seat but also the local body polls. It may be mentioned here that the Congress held a massive exercise to short list the candidates before nominating a BC leader though there were multiple ticket aspirants from the upper castes.
The party commissioned a number of surveys and also sought reports from the party in-charges, including ministers and corporation chairpersons, before finalising Naveen’s candidature.
While the Congress and BRS announced their candidates, the BJP is yet to reveal its pick for the bypoll.
BRS has picked Maganti Sunitha Gopinath, wife of late Maganti Gopinath, whose untimely demise necessitated this byelection.