The Hindu : Front Page : Byelections: Congress, TDP strike a ‘deal’ on Khairatabad, Therlam seats

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Wednesday, Apr 23, 2008
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Byelections: Congress, TDP strike a ‘deal’ on Khairatabad, Therlam seats

Special Correspondent

First list of candidates for 3 Lok Sabha and 14 Assembly constituencies released

Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy, APCC president D. Srinivas call on Sonia Gandhi
Congress names T. Manemma, wife of former Chief Minister T. Anjaiah from Musheerabad

HYDERABAD: The Congress and the Telugu Desam Party have reached a quid pro quo arrangement with regard to the May 29 byelections in Khairatabad and Therlam Assembly constituencies.

This was evident from the first list of candidates for the three Lok Sabha and 14 Assembly constituencies released late on Tuesday night. Under this arrangement, the Congress will not field its candidate in Therlam constituency of Vizianagaram district which fell vacant owing to the death of TDP MLA T. Jayaprakash. The TDP will reciprocate by leaving the Kharaitabad seat uncontested as the bypoll was caused by the demise of Congress MLA P. Janardhan Reddy in December.

Green signal

The AICC president Sonia Gandhi gave the green signal to this proposal when Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy and APCC president D. Srinivas called on her on Tuesday carrying the list of candidates for the byelections.

But, the Lok Satta party has rejected a plea by the Congress not to field its nominee from Khairatabad stating that it did not brook “dynastic politics”.

Interestingly, the Congress has named T. Manemma, wife of former Chief Minister T. Anjaiah from Musheerabad Assembly constituency and Ponnala Vaishali, daughter-in-law of Major Irrigation Minister Ponnala Lakshmaiah from Cheriyal constituency.

Meanwhile, the Chief Minister is likely to visit New Delhi once again this week to give finishing touches to the Congress party’s list.

Names cleared

The Congress leadership had cleared the names of T. Jeevan Reddy, A. Indrakaran Reddy and Konda Surekha for Karimnagar, Adilabad and Hanamkonda Lok Sabha seats respectively, but could not persuade Tribal Welfare Minister D. S. Redya Naik to contest from Warangal. Similarly, the party was finding it difficult to identify suitable candidates for Musheerabad, Secunderabad and Siddipet Assembly seats.

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