Meanwhile, deciding a candidate for the Adilabad seat has become a challenge for the BJP leadership as the incumbent Soyam Bapu Rao is determined to contest at any cost.
Published Date – 13 March 2024, 05:35 PM
Hyderabad: The BJP leadership has reportedly finalised candidates for the remaining seats in Telangana, except Adilabad, for the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls. The party had already announced candidates for nine out of the total 17 seats and the remaining eight are likely to be announced in the next few days.
Party sources say the leadership has cleared the names of DK Aruna (Mahabubnagar), M Raghunandan Rao (Medak), Sitaram Naik (Mahabubabad), Jalagam Venkat Rao (Khammam), Shanampudi Saidireddy (Nalgonda), Gomasa Srinivas (Peddapalli) and former DGP T Krishna Prasad (Warangal). However, sources say that the Warangal ticket might see some change in the candidate in the event of a former MLA from another party joining the BJP.
Meanwhile, deciding a candidate for the Adilabad seat has become a challenge for the BJP leadership as the incumbent Soyam Bapu Rao is determined to contest at any cost. He had even warned that he would work against the BJP candidate if he was not given the ticket. Bapu Rao has support from the adivasi communities as he is spearheading the movement to remove Lambadas from the list of Scheduled Tribes.
The induction of former BRS MP G Nagesh as well has created division in the party in the district with leaders belonging to Lambada community urging the party leadership not to give the Adilabad ticket to him.
Similarly, the national leadership allotting tickets to former BRS MP BB Patil from Zaheerabad has not gone down well with local leaders. Hundreds of BJP leaders from Zaheerabad constituency recently staged a protest at the BJP State headquarters against the party leadership’s decision to allot a ticket to Patil. A majority of them are unhappy with the decision and even decided to stay away from campaigning.
Interestingly, except the three sitting seats – Secunderabad, Karimnagar and Nizamabad – rest of the seats have been allotted to leaders who joined BJP from rival parties. The party leadership’s decision to allot tickets to turncoats has not gone well with State leaders and could affect the prospects of the candidates in the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls, a BJP leader said.
