With just one day left for the conclusion of the nomination filing process for the upcoming Nagarjuna Sagar by-election, TRS supremo, Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, today made the much-awaited announcement revealing the name of the party's candidate for the seat.
The TRS has chosen to field leader Nomula Bhagat Kumar, son of former Nagarjuna Sagar MLA Nomula Narasimhaiah, for the seat.
Speaking after handing over the B-form to Bhagat, the CM said, "After a long process of deliberation, we have decided to give the Nagarjuna Sagar constituency ticket to Nomula Bhagat as this will be a befitting recognition of the services rendered by his father, late Nomula Narasimhaiah, to the people of the constituency."
On the occasion, KCR also handed over a cheque worth Rs 28 lakh to Bhagat to help cover the expenditures of his election campaign.
The candidate will file his nomination papers on Tuesday morning.
Various other leaders of the pink party, including T Chinnappa Reddy, Koti Reddy, Guravaiah Yadav and Ranjith Yadav, were among those who were reportedly hoping to get the ticket. Though the CM had taken their names into consideration as well, after conducting surveys about each of them in the constituency, he chose to field Bhagat for the seat.
Before coming to a decision, KCR also took into account the opinions of the party's district in-charges and MLAs, who are currently in Nagarjuna Sagar to campaign for the TRS.
Leaders including G Jagadish Reddy, MP J Santosh Kumar, MLCs Sheri Subash Reddy and Palla Rajeshwar Reddy were also present on the occasion.
While the Congress has
chosen former minister and ex-CLP leader K Jana Reddy as its candidate for the upcoming election, the BJP is yet to announce the name of its candidate.
The by-election has been necessitated by the passing of sitting MLA, Nomula Narsimhaiah. He
died in December last year due to a cardiac arrest.