The Congress central election committee (CEC) poured water on the hopes of many leaders who were expecting tickets for their children and family members in polls by clearing names of 40 sitting members from Telangana for the Assembly and 10 Lok Sabha constituencies.
Sources told The Hindu that the high command was clear in not entertaining the leaders’ demands to give tickets to their children and family members. Only TPCC working president N. Uttam Kumar Reddy’s wife Padma Reddy reportedly got the green signal to contest from Kodad constituency while he would contest from Huzurnagar. According to sources, sitting MPs – Madhu Yaskhi (Nizamabad), Ponnam Prabhakar (Karimnagar), P. Balram Naik (Mahabubabad), S. Rajaiah (Warangal), Suresh Shetkar (Zaheerabad), Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy (Bhongir) and Anjan Kumar Yadav (Secunderabad) – would be re-nominated.
On the first day of meeting of the CEC with TPCC president Ponnala Lakshmaiah, Mr. Uttam Reddy and campaign committee chairman C. Damodar Raja Narasimha, nod was given to 40 MLAs. The committee comprising AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh and Vayalar Ravi, during the meeting in the War Room in Delhi on Wednesday, decided to keep in abeyance 14 seats, which are represented by party MLAs. They later met AICC president Sonia Gandhi and briefed her. Some of these seats have been kept pending owing to the demand for tickets for leaders’ family members.
Union Minister S. Jaipal Reddy’s plea to shift him to Mahabubnagar has been reportedly accepted, thereby brightening the chances of ticket to P. Karthik Reddy, son of former Home Minister P. Sabitha Indra Reddy. Union Minister Sarvey Satyanarayana, who represents Malkajgiri Lok Sabha seat, is being urged to shift to Secunderabad Cantonment Assembly constituency with the promise that if the party leadership decides to make a Dalit as Telangana Chief Minister, he stands a good chance. In that case, former Minister P. Shankar Rao, who wants the ticket for his daughter Sushmita, may field her from Chevella SC Assembly seat.
Nalgonda LS has been kept pending on the ground that it may be allotted to the CPI as part of the alliance. The sitting MP Gutha Sukhender Reddy may then be accommodated from Malkajgiri LS or any other Assembly constituency in Nalgonda. Sitting MLAs from Sangareddy, Wardhannapet, Alampur, Maheswaram, Uppal, Musheerabad, Serilingampalli, Nakrekal, Malkajgiri, Secunderabad Cantonment and Qutubullapur are yet to get the clearance, sources said.
Party sources said close to 80 names would be finalised by Thursday night. The problem is with another 25 segments where heavy rush for tickets and pressure to accommodate the family members is holding back the final decision, sources said. An official announcement is likely on Friday.
