HYDERABAD: BRS president and former chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Friday named Hanamkonda ZP chairman Marepally Sudheer Kumar as the pink party’s candidate for the Warangal Lok Sabha segment.
The BRS chief is believed to have elicited the opinion of Warangal as well as state-level party leaders during a meeting he convened at his Erravalli farmhouse before declaring the candidature of Sudheer.
Sudheer Kumar, who belongs to the Madiga community, has been with KCR since the launch of the Telangana movement in 2001. He was elected as Warangal ZP chairman in 2019.
A dramatic situation prevailed before the BRS chief’s announcement as former deputy CM T Rajaiah expected the party ticket and some news channels also confirmed his candidature. He planned to meet KCR at his farmhouse only after his ticket was confirmed. He waited for almost two hours at Vantimamidi, which is very close to the farmhouse of KCR, for positive signs. After KCR announced Sudheer Kumar’s candidature, Rajaiah left the place.
The former minister had left the BRS after KCR refused to re-nominate him from the Station Ghanpur constituency in the recent Assembly elections. He even planned to join the Congress in the hope of securing Warangal Lok Sabha ticket.
The Congress gave the Warangal ticket to Kadiyam Kavya after she joined the party along with her father and BRS Station Ghanpur MLA Srihari. The BRS president named Kavya for Warangal Lok Sabha seat, but she resigned and joined the Congress.
While KCR chose a Madiga leader to take on Kavya, the BJP picked Aroori Ramesh, who recently shifted his loyalty from the BRS to the saffron party.