Finally, getting its act together after much wrangling among the party leaders, the Congress late on Monday night announced the first list of 65 candidates that included almost all the sitting members in the just dissolved House and former Ministers, who had lost the 2014 elections.
Approved list
The 65-strong list signed by the AICC General Secretary and in-charge of Central Election Committee Mukul Wasnik released around midnight has TPCC chief N.Uttam Kumar Reddy and his wife Padmavati Reddy getting tickets from Huzurnagar and Kodad Assembly constituencies. CLP leader K. Jana Reddy got the ticket from Nagarjunasagar while the chairman of the Campaign Committee Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka will contest from Madhira constituency. The list is mix of former Union Ministers, former State Ministers, sitting MLAs in the last House and couple of leaders from other parties, who joined the Congress recently.
TPCC working presidents – Ponnam Prabhakar and A. Revanth Reddy are the candidates from Karimnagar and Kodangal seat. Leader of the Opposition in the Council Md. Ali Shabbir managed to get the Kamareddy ticket.
Chairman of the Manifesto Committee C. Damodar Raj Narasimha will contest from Andole constituency. Curiously, former PCC chief Ponnala Lakshmaiah failed to find his name from Jangaon seat. There could be some trouble as Congress announced candidates for seats such as Kothagudem, Ramagundam.
Former MLAs in the last Assembly, who retained the tickets, are D.K.Aruna (Gadwal), Ch Vasmichand Reddy (Kalwakurthy), T.Jeevan Reddy (Jagtial), S.A.Sampath Kumar (Alampur SC), Komatireddy Venkat Reddy (Nalgonda), G.Chinna Reddy (Wanaparthy), J.Geetha Reddy (Zaheerabad) and T.Rammohan Reddy (Parigi).
Similarly, former Ministers in 2014 Congress government – P.Sabitha Indra Reddy (Maheshwaram), D.Sridhar Babu (Manthani), P.Sudarshan Reddy (Bodhan), V.Sunitha Laxma Reddy (Narsapur), Gaddam Prasad Kumar (Vikarabad), Vanama Venkateswara Rao (Kothagudem) and M.Mukesh Goud (Goshamahal) found their names. Anil Kumar Yadav, son of former MP Anjan Kumar Yadav was given the Musheerabad ticket
Among the former Union Ministers Sarvey Satyanarayana managed to get the ticket from Secunderabad Cantonment while Porike Balaram Naik will contest from Mahabubabad ST seat.
Vonteru Pratap Reddy, who contested against the Chief Minister K.Chandrsekhar Rao on the TDP ticket from Gajwel in the last election is the Congress candidate now.
