NIZAMABAD: With TRS leadership having started looking for candidates for the MLC byelections, party circles in erstwhile Nizamabad district are busy discussing who the Local Authorities Constituency ticket will be given to.
Three MLCs had recently been disqualified for defecting from the TRS. R Bhupathi Reddy, one of the MLCs, was elected to the Council from the Nizamabad Local Authorities’ constituency. He was only three years into his term in the Council when he was removed. The Election Commission of India is expected to announce byelections to the three seats, including Reddy’s, in a few days.
TRS MLAs and MLCs in the district are said to be urging the leadership to provide the ticket to Kalvakuntla Kavitha, the daughter of party chief and Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, who was unseated from the Nizamabad MP seat a couple of months ago. Sources said TRS leadership has responded positively to the suggestion but no decision has been taken yet. There is speculation that Rao wishes to induct his daughter into his Cabinet. If this is indeed the case, she is sure of getting the MLC ticket.
Kavitha has maintained a low profile since her disappointing Lok Sabha election outing. She has not participated in TRS’ ongoing membership drive either. The leadership too is said to have given her no responsibilities with regard to the membership drive. The party cadre is clueless about what role Kavitha would play in the upcoming urban local body elections.
Apart from Kavitha, the names of former Andhra Pradesh Assembly Speaker KR Suresh Reddy and leader Mandava Venkateshwar Rao are being thrown around. Suresh Reddy had joined TRS a few weeks before the Assembly elections and Venkateshwar Rao before the Lok Sabha elections. Sources also said Suresh Reddy could be sent to the Rajya Sabha.