Congress, TDP Rebel Leaders Withdraw After Talks

The growing dissidence within their party ranks after certain leaders were not given party tickets for the upcoming Telangana Assembly elections was partly quelled today by the intervention of the Congress high command and TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu.

In a fresh development, the Congress rebel candidate from the Serilingampally Assembly constituency M Bikshapathi Yadav agreed to withdraw the nomination papers he had filed as an independent for the constituency after intervention by the Congress high command leaders led by Ahmed Patel, former Union minister S Jaipal Reddy and the TPCC president N Uttam Kumar Reddy.

The senior Congress leaders reportedly assured Yadav of a cabinet rank post "after the formation of the Mahakootami government" in Telangana after the upcoming elections.

The Congress leaders also convinced the party rebel candidates from the Secunderabad Assembly constituency - Palle Laxman Rao Goud and Adam Umadevi - to withdraw their nomination papers by assuring them of a good political future.

Separately, TDP national president Chandrababu Naidu met with his own party's rebel leader Movva Satyanarayana, who had also filed his nomination papers for the Serilingampally constituency, and appointed him as an official spokesperson of the party.

Naidu also assured Movva that he would take care of his political future.

Another TDP leader, Sama Ranga Reddy, who was fielded from the Ibrahimpatnam Assembly constituency by the TDP, decided to withdraw his nomination from the L B Nagar Assembly constituency following the intervention of Naidu. (Reddy was keen on contesting from L B Nagar, and after the TDP gave him the Ibrahimpatnam ticket, went ahead and filed his nomination for the L B Nagar constituency anyway.)