HYDERABAD/NIZAMABAD/WARANGAL: The announcement of second list of 28 candidates by the saffron party, on Friday, was marred by protests by disgruntled loyalists who failed to secure a ticket. For the past two days, aspirants have even been holding sit-in protests at the party office. In the Nizamabad office of the party, followers of ticket aspirants damaged property and burnt effigies. Dhanpal Suryanarayana Gupta’s followers damaged furniture in the party office as the ticket went to ex-legislator Yendala Laxminarayana.
Followers of Dhanpal went on a rampage in the Nizamabad BJP office for nearly thirty minutes, damaging furniture, electronic goods and smashing window panes. “Laxminarayana had said that he would contest only the Lok Sabha elections,” claims one of Dhanpal’s supporters. “Why has he changed his mind now? We will persuade our leader to contest as an Independent to show our strength.” This was later confirmed by Dhanpal himself.
“I have worked for this party for the last three decades. In the last elections, I contested from Nizamabad Urban constituency and garnered 29,000 votes,” he said, addressing a press conference. “This time, all surveys have predicted my victory. All organisations in Nizamabad have expressed support to me. It is really upsetting that the party cheated me by not giving me a ticket,” he said, while defending his supporters for getting emotional and going on a rampage.
In the Serilingampally constituency, meanwhile, three leaders who are against the candidature of realtor G Yoganand -- K Naresh, Kasireddy Bhaskar Reddy, and K Satish -- have been staging protests for the past two days. “I have been working for the party since 1980s and this is the treatment I get,” says Kasireddy. “Yogananda doesn’t know anything about this constituency,” he claims. “While seasoned ones like us are waiting, the party has favoured people who recently joined only because they can pump in money during polls,” he alleges.
In Warangal West, the saffron party’s district chief Padma Rao has been left disappointed. Ticket for the area has been given to her arch rival Dharma Rao. She, along with 92 office bearers of the party, have taken off to Hyderabad to meet her State chief, K Laxman. Before leaving, Padma did announce that if she isn’t accommodated, she would contest the polls as an Independent. “I don’t know how the party leadership gave the ticket to a man who has lost five elections in a row. Defeat is sure if he is the candidate,” she claims.
The heat of dissent in Telangana’s districts and hinterlands is being felt all the way up in New Delhi. Though the bosses there initially finalised candidates for 30 constituencies, couple of them were held back due to wild speculations over names and dissent brewing, say party sources. One such constituency is Ibrahimpatnam, where M Anjaiah Yadav staged a protest at the party office after he heard the name of another leader, Ashok Goud, doing rounds as potential candidate.
Congress is not new to this kind of heckling and protests for tickets but BJP is, especially in Telangana. The dissent, however, is likely to make the senior leaders of the party happy, for it shows there is a demand for saffron party tickets.
This wasn’t the case earlier, point out poll pundits. BJP holding power in the Centre and heavyweights consistently coming down to campaign in Telangana could have revived the party’s prospects in the southern States, they say.
List of candidates
Sirpur : Srinivasulu
Asifabad : Ajmira Naik
Khanapur : Satla Ashok
Nirmal : A Suvarna Reddy
Nizamabad : E Lakshminaryana
Jagityal : M Ravinder Reddy
Ramagundam : B Vanitha
Siriilla : M Narsa Goud
Siddipet : N Narotham Reddy
Kukatpally : M Kantha Rao
Rajendranagar : Baddam Bal Reddy
Serilingampally : G Yoganand
Malakpet : Ale Jithendra
Charminar : T Uma Mahendra
Chandrayangutta : Syed Shahezadi
Yakatpura : Charmani Roopraj
Bahadurpura : Haneef Ali
Devarkadra : A Narsimulu Sagar
Wanaparthi : K Amarender Reddy
Nagarkurnool : N Dilip Chary
Nagarjuna Sagar : K Niveditha
Alair : D Sridhar REddy
Ghanpur : P Venkateshwarulu
Warangal West : M Dharma Rao
Wardhannnapet : K Saranga Rao
Yellandu : M Naga Sravanthi
Wyra : Bhukya Reshma Bai
Aswaraopet : Bhukya Prasad Rao
Filmy touch
Telugu actors Resyma Rathore and Babu Mohan have been roped in by the saffron party, hoping to woo voters. Resyma Rathore will contest from Wyra
Attack on priest is attack on Hinduism: Paripoornananda
Warangal: Seer Paripoornananda, who recently joined Bharatiya Janatha Party, attempted to stoke communal fire on Friday over the alleged murder of Satyanarayana Sharma, a priest in a Sai Baba temple in Warangal. He said ‘it was an attack on Hindu dharma and not just an individual’. It may be recalled that Sharma and Syed Natiq Hussaini, the imam of a mosque in the city’s LB Nagar, had argued with each other over the use of loudspeaker in the temple.