HYDERABAD: The AICC on Friday released a list of 36 candidates, including four from Telangana, for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. These four candidates are Suresh Kumar Shetkar from Zaheerabad, K Raghuveer Reddy from Nalgonda, Ch Vamshi Chand Reddy from Mahbubnagar and P Balaram Naik from Mahabubabad.
While party seniors in the state believe that the high command wants to wait for strong leaders to join the Congress from the BRS and the BJP, the fact that their names were missing from the list has increased anxiety among aspirants.
Almost the entire state unit of the Congress expected the AICC to clear eight to nine candidates from among the 17 Lok Sabha constituencies in Telangana. The relatively short list has caught everyone, most of all leaders who had been the only applicants for tickets from specific constituencies, by surprise.
For example, MLC T Jeevan Reddy is the only applicant for the Nizamabad Lok Sabha ticket. Similarly, Bonthu Sridevi, the wife of former mayor Rammohan, who jumped ship from the BRS to the Congress, was the only aspirant from the grand old party for the Secunderabad Lok Sabha ticket. For the Chevella ticket, ZP chairperson P Suneetha Mahender Reddy was expecting the ticket. Likewise, G Vamshi was aspiring for the Peddapalli ticket, Dommati Sambaiah the Warangal ticket and Neelam Madhu Mudiraj the Medak ticket.
Interestingly, Patel Ramesh Reddy, a friend and follower of Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, was left disappointed after the high command announced the candidature of Raghuveer Reddy for the Nalgonda Lok Sabha seat. Raghuveer Reddy is the son of former minister and senior Congress leader K Jana Reddy.
Ramesh Reddy had expected the Suryapet Assembly ticket in the recent elections and was promised the Nalgonda Lok Sabha ticket for withdrawing from the race. He was also promised the Nalgonda Lok Sabha ticket in 2019.
Meanwhile, those close to the chief minister are confident that Ramesh Reddy will be accommodated in a nominated post soon.
Discussions, meanwhile, continued regarding the reasons for the rather slim first list of candidates in state Congress circles. Many believe that the high command was weighing its options very carefully to help the state unit achieve its goal of bagging 12 to 14 Lok Sabha seats in the state, while others say that the party is expecting a few key leaders from the BJP and BRS to join the Congress fold.