Some of the senior BJP leaders were on tenterhooks and spent anxious moments till late night on Tuesday when the central party released the final list of candidates for Assembly and Lok Sabha elections in Telangana. BJP spokesperson N. Ramchander Rao, who is contesting from Malkajgiri Assembly, took his B-form from Telangana BJP president G. Kishan Reddy at 3.45 a.m. on Wednesday, the last day of filing nominations, was unsure whether he would find a place as last-minute seat-swapping talks between Mr. Kishan Reddy and TDP chief N. Chandrababu Naidu till late in the night.
It is learnt that the BJP chief wanted TDP to swap Medchal, L.B. Nagar, Patancheru, Narayanapet Assembly seats and reportedly offered Malkajgiri and a few others to TDP. However, the BJP leadership as well Mr. Naidu reportedly declined to change the seats. Former legislator N. Indrasena Reddy, who was fielded from Bhongir LS constituency, apparently faced a similar predicament.
The candidature of a party activist, Vedire Sriram, was all but finalised when a senior leader from the State reportedly pitched in and ensured that the leadership gave the ticket to Mr. Indrasena Reddy. Senior leader Bandaru Dattatreya almost faced the axe in the final hours, according to sources.
The leadership considered moving Kishan Reddy to Secunderabad LS, but the latter reportedly declined saying Mr. Dattatreya should have been informed of the move much earlier.
