Ponnala Gets Jangaon, 6 Names Yet To Be Released

After several days of discussions, former minister and former Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president Ponnala Lakshmaiah was finally selected by the Congress high command as the candidate for the Jangaon Assembly constituency for the upcoming Telanagana Assembly elections.

After his name was not in the first two lists, Ponnala had camped in Delhi and met the high command leaders seeking the party ticket for the constituency. His efforts bore fruit as his name was in the third list of 13 candidates released by the Congress today. It has been reported that the main Mahakootami contender, TJS boss M Kodandaram, withdrew from the race at the personal request of Rahul Gandhi, who promised the TJS a Rajya Sabha and an MLC seat in compensation. Kodandaram is not contesting the elections.

A few prominent names missing from the Congress' third list include those of former minister Marri Shashidhar Reddy, who was the aspirant for the Sanathnagar constituency ticket, and K Raghuveer Reddy, who is the son of ex-CLP leader K Jana Reddy and was the aspirant for the Miryalaguda constituency ticket.

In the seat-sharing arrangement among the grand alliance partners, the Sanathnagar seat was allotted to the TDP, and even before the Congress released its list, the Telugu Desam Party announced that it would field Kuna Venkatesh Goud from there.

Marri Shashidhar Reddy said that he was completely disappointed with the decision of the high command. He stated that he had alternative plans, and that he would take a call on whether to contest the elections for the Sanathnagar Assembly seat anyway, after holding meetings with his family members, supporters and followers.

The 13 candidates in the third list of the Congress and their respective constituencies are:

Soyam Bapu Rao from the Boath (ST) constituency
Taher Bin Hamdan from Nizamabad (Urban)
Dr Rekula Bhupathi Reddy from Nizamabad (Rural)
E Anil Kumar from Balkonda
D Sudhir Reddy from L B Nagar
Osman Bin Mohammad Al Hazri from Karwan
K Rajendra Raju from Yakutpura
Kalem Baba from Bahadurpura
Beeram Harshavardhan Reddy from Kollapur
Balu Naik from Devarakonda (ST)
Addanki Dayakar from Thungathurthy (SC)
Ponnala Lakshmaiah from Jangaon
Banoth Haripriya Naik from Yellandu (ST)

It has been reported that despite TPCC president Uttam Kumar Reddy's efforts to secure it for his followers, the Thungathurthy ticket was given to Addanki Dayakar.

With the third list, the Congress has till date released the names of its candidates for 88 seats (it has taken 94 constituencies as part of the Mahakootami seat-sharing, with the TDP getting 14, the TJS eight and the CPI three). The party is yet to announce candidates for the other six constituencies.