Congress party has decided to enter the fray in the MLC elections from the Local Authorities Constituencies (LAC) for 12 vacancies.
A decision to this effect was taken today by the senior party leaders. According to sources, the party has decided to contest at least four to five MLC seats although it is short of strength to wrest any of the dozen seats.
It is understood that the party has cleared the names of Rayala Nageswara Rao, a senior Congress leader and former DCMS chairman of Khammam district and Ms. Nirmala Jagga Reddy, wife of Sangareddy MLA and TPCC working president Turpu Jayaprakash Reddy. Ms. Nirmala Reddy is the Sangareddy DCC chief at present. The two names have been sent to AICC for clearance.
With regards to others, it is believed that the party wanted the TPCC working president Mahesh Kumar Goud to take on Kalvakuntla Kavitha, former MLC and daughter of Chief Minister K.Chandrasekhar Rao in Nizamabad. Mr. Goud is said to be consulting his supporters before taking a final decision. Sources said the party does not want to concede the ground that will pave way for unanimous election of Ms. Kavitha.
The party is said to be considering either Vem Vasudev Reddy or Batti Srinivas for Warangal LAC MLC seat while the name of a senior Congress leader Srinivas Reddy is doing the rounds for Nalgonda LAC seat. He is a close follower of Bhongir MP Komatireddy Venkat Reddy. In Mahabubnagar, an NRI Suhasan Reddy and another Congress leader from Devarakadra mandal, Satish Goud, are evincing interest to contest the polls. Similarly, in Ranga Reddy, the party sources said decided to back one Satyanarayana Reddy, who recently crossed over from the TRS to the Congress party.
A senior TPCC functionary told The Hindu that senior leaders would be meeting at the residence of State unit chief A. Revanth Reddy tomorrow to take a call on the remaining aspirants. “As of now, we wish to field candidates in not more that five seats,” a senior leader said.
Mr Revanth Reddy will issue B forms to the candidates tomorrow morning, sources said.
Meanwhile, Mr. Jayaprakash Reddy told reporters that despite lacking the numbers, the party wanted to keep its vote bank intact.
