Congress Third List Shocks Uttam Reddy, Jana Reddy

The third list of candidates released by the Congress high command came as a shock to the top leaders of the party including Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president N Uttam Kumar Reddy and ex-CLP leader K Jana Reddy.

A major shock was the denial of the ticket to a veteran leader and son of a former Chief Minister of undivided Andhra Pradesh, Marri Shashidhar Reddy. The Sanathnagar constituency, whose ticket Reddy had sought, was instead conceded to the Mahakootami partner TDP.

The third list also did not contain the name of ex-CLP leader Jana Reddy's son K Raghuveer Reddy, who had sought the Miryalaguda Assembly ticket. The Congress high command is yet to decide on the party nominee for the constituency.

Another shock was the allocation of the Thungathuri Assembly ticket to former Osmania University student leader and party spokesperson Addanki Dayakar, despite strong opposition by the TPCC president. According to party sources, the TPCC president had lobbied strongly to secure the ticket for one of his followers. But Congress president Rahul Gandhi, after a one-on-one session with Dayakar, weighed the factors in favour of his victory and decided to give the ticket to him (Dayakar had lost the last Assembly elections from Thungathuri).