HYDERABAD: The submission of applications for Congress tickets to contest in the upcoming general elections took an interesting turn with Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka’s wife Nandhini applying for Khammam Lok Sabha seat at Gandhi Bhavan on Saturday.
She had recently expressed her dismay over the Congress high command for not preferring her husband for the post of chief minister.
In a show of strength, the deputy chief minister’s wife arrived at Gandhi Bhavan from Khammam in a huge convoy of vehicles and submitted her application form.
Khammam Lok Sabha seat has become the most-sought-after segment. Family members of all three ministers from the district are eyeing the ticket for the Lok Sabha polls.
The leaders are applying for the ticket, knowing fully well that the TPCC had passed a resolution requesting Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) chairperson Sonia Gandhi to contest from Telangana either from the Khammam Lok Sabha segment or from a Rajya Sabha seat.
Those who are applying for the Congress ticket for Khammam have requested the party to consider their applications in the event of Sonia Gandhi declining the request to contest.
“The chief minister and the deputy chief minister want either Sonia Gandhi or Priyanka Gandhi to contest from Khammam. We have started the groundwork. If they contest from here, we will ensure that they win with a huge majority,” Nandhini said.
Incidentally, the family members of two other ministers from Khammam — Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy and Thummala Nageswara Rao — are also competing for the ticket. While Ponguleti’s brother is seeking the ticket, Thummala’s son is also eyeing the seat.
Apart from ministers, other senior Congress leaders including V Hanumantha Rao and Renuka Chowdhury are also asking the party to nominate them from Khammam.
It would be a tough choice for the party to put down the requests of these leaders, particularly those of the ministers.
Khammam Lok Sabha segment being the stronghold for the Congress, the leaders are keen to make the cut to get the ticket as victory is more or less guaranteed.
While Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka proposed to make the Lok Sabha poll unanimous in case Sonia Gandhi contests, it remains to be seen how the party would deal with multiple aspirants, if the party supremo decides against contesting from Khammam.