Having almost brought down the curtains on alliance with other parties, the Telangana Rashtra Samiti is going ahead with finalising candidates for all the Assembly and Parliamentary constituencies. The party is expected to come up with the first list of candidates for nearly 70 seats on Friday.
A TRS MLA close to party president K. Chandrasekhar Rao told The Hindu that all the sitting MLAs, irrespective of whether they won on party ticket or on behalf of TDP and Congress, would be fielded. The TRS had 10 MLAs in 2009 elections but four legislators of TDP and two others of Congress resigned from their respective parties and got elected on TRS ticket in the by-elections. The party also won Parkal Assembly seat subsequently but 12 MLAs have joined it to take the tally of MLAs till date to 29.
Two Congress MPs G. Vivekanand and Manda Jagannatham joined the TRS but the former recently quit which has resulted in the party scouting for a candidate from Peddapally Lok Sabha constituency.
There are also half-a-dozen leaders of some standing like Konda Surekha and actor Babu Mohan who joined the TRS, necessitating rewarding them with ticket. A prominent educationist P. Rajeswara Reddy and a professor of Kakatiya University A. Sitaram Naik also joined TRS with Babu Mohan. While Mr. Reddy is tipped to be the candidate for Nalgonda Lok Sabha constituency, Mr. Naik was reportedly sounded out for Mulug (ST) Assembly constituency.
The MLA said 75 per cent of the candidates would be old war horses and the remaining new comers to electoral politics. They include Shankaramma, mother of a youth K. Srikanth Chary who burnt himself to death in full public view at the altar of KCR’s indefinite fast in November 2009. She was likely to be fielded from Huzurnagar Assembly constituency in Nalgonda.
The other freshers are cultural artiste Rasamai Balkishan from Manakondur (SC) in Karimnagar, Telangana gazetted officers association president V. Srinivas Goud from Mahbubnagar, student leader Pidamarthi Ravi from Sattupalli in Khammam and a medical doctor B. Narsaiah from Bhongir Lok Sabha constituency. Either T. Sriranga Rao or M. Sahodar Reddy would get the nod from advocates category, he added.
The TRS has not identified candidates for Secunderabad and Malkajgiri parliamentary constituencies. Two businessmen Ganesh Gupta and B.B. Patil are in the race for Zaheerabad Lok Sabha seat.
