Telangana Congress chief A Revanth Reddy (L) and state Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao.
Credit: PTI File Photos
New Delhi: Taking the battle into the opponent’s den, the Congress on Monday night fielded its Lok Sabha MP and Telangana chief A Revanth Reddy against Chief Minister and BRS supremo K Chandrasekhar Rao.
Both Reddy and Rao are contesting from two seats. The Telangana Congress president will challenge Rao in the Kamareddy constituency, and he will also vie for the Kodangal seat, where he faced defeat in the 2018 Assembly elections before eventually winning a Lok Sabha seat.
For Chief Minister KCR, in his second seat, Gajwel, he will face his former colleague Etala Rajender, who defected to the BJP after being removed as a minister from Rao's cabinet. Rajender is also running for the Huzurabad constituency, a seat he has previously won both as a BRS and BJP candidate.
The Congress move to field Reddy, a firebrand leader, is seen as a bold move to send a strong message to the electorate about the party’s stand against the BRS.
A section of the party, however, believes that it will also lead to drawing curtains on a possible alliance in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections.
Reddy’s entry in Kamareddy is also expected to tie Rao to the constituency even as the BRS leadership finds that it would have no impact. Rao will also have to spend time in Gajwel.
In the third list of candidates, in addition to Reddy's nomination, the Congress made changes by replacing two candidates whose names had been previously announced. Congress Secretary and former Minister G Chinnareddy was replaced with Tudi Megha Reddy in the Wanaparthy constituency, and Vennala Ashok from the Boath seat was replaced by Ade Gajender.
The Congress has also named 14 other candidates in the third list, including Reddy, while names for five seats are pending. It is possible that the Congress might allocate one or two of these seats to the CPI. The CPI(M) has already withdrawn from alliance talks due to delays in the process.
The Congress has nominated all three of its sitting MPs, including Reddy, N Uttam Kumar Reddy, and Komatireddy Venkat Reddy. Additionally, the party is fielding five of its current MLAs. A number of Congress MLAs had earlier defected to the BRS and BJP.