HYDERABAD: With the party high command not naming candidates for the Kamareddy and Nizamabad Urban segments, speculations that the Congress may field TPCC chief Revanth Reddy or another top leader of the party to challenge Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao in Kamareddy gained ground on Friday.
Sources said that two teams of political strategist Sunil Kanugolu have been collecting feedback and conducting surveys regarding Revanth’s candidacy in Kamareddy. These teams are speaking to various sections of voters to gauge the sentiment if Revanth were to contest from Kamareddy.
Meanwhile, the Congress has put on hold the candidature of senior leader Md Ali Shabbir who was initially slated to contest from Kamareddy as it was keen to field a leader against KCR who could force the BRS supremo and his top lieutenants Harish Rao and KT Rama Rao to shift their focus on the battle at hand.Sources said that the party high command will put the candidature for Kamareddy and Nizamabad Urban on hold till it receives the survey reports.
In the first list, the Congress had allocated 17 seats and an additional 21 seats were given to the Reddy community in the second. The second list also includes three Kamma, two Velama, one Brahmin, eight BC, three SC, six ST and four women leaders. The party’s distribution of tickets has been a point of contention, particularly among BC leaders who expressed their dissatisfaction.
One name missing from the list is MLA Ajmeera Rekha Naik. However, her husband Shyam Naik received a ticket in Asifabad.The party has not yet announced candidates for several constituencies, Wyra, Kothagudem, Miryalaguda, Chennur, Charminar, Nizamabad Urban, Kamareddy, Sircilla, Suryapet, Thungathurthi, Banswada, Jukkal, Patancheru, Karimnagar, Yellandu, Dornakal, Sathupalli, Narayankhed and Aswaraopet. While four of these constituencies have been reserved for Left parties as part of a potential alliance, the Congress is evaluating its options for the remaining seats.