Congress has sprung a surprise by announcing the name of Dr Sravan Kumar Reddy, a relative newcomer for the Medak Lok Sabha seat. Dr Reddy, an industrialist based in Hyderabad and native of Dubbak was with the YSR Congress till he was offered the seat by the Congress.
Congress has a history of fielding new faces from the Medak parliamentary constituency. In the 2009 elections, the then Chief Minister late Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy fielded Changnla Narendranath to counter Telangana Rashtra Samithi’s M. Vijayashanti. Though completely new to politics, Mr. Narendranath surprised both the Congress cadres as well as the TDP-TRS grand alliance by giving a tough fight to Ms. Vijayashanti. The Tollywood star-turned politician finally managed to win the seat by a margin of over 6,000 votes.
This time, the Congress was forced to go in for Dr. Reddy’s candidature as many party leaders refused to take up the gauntlet from this TRS stronghold as they will be pitted against TRS President K. Chandraseakhar Rao. Besides, TRS got an edge in the Assembly constituencies falling under Medak parliamentary seat. Mr. Narendranath who was the Congress candidate in the 2009 elections is expected to contest from the same constituency on BJP ticket this time.
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Though the names of Ms. Vijayashanti and District Congress Committee (DCC) president V. Bhoopal Reddy cropped up as possible candidates, both of them reportedly rejected the proposal. It is reported that Ms. Vijayashanti is keen to contest from Medak assembly seat and has sounded the Congress high command about her intention. Former legislator P. Sashidhar Reddy is also keen on contesting the Assembly seat.