Hyderabad / Sangareddy: Even as the Congress candidate V Narender Reddy filed his nomination for Karimnagar - Nizamabad - Adilabad - Medak Graduates constituency, an independent candidate N Yadagiri Yadav of Patancheru allegedly at behest of MLA G Mahipal Reddy also filed nomination on the last day of nomination, raising concerns within the Congress party.

According to sources, Yadagiri Yadav, considered to be a close aide of Mahipal Reddy’s brother G Madhusudhan Reddy is an advocate. He will now be contesting against Congress candidate and BJP’s G Anji Reddy. The group politics within Congress has prompted the sitting MLA to back the candidate, which is likely to end up benefiting the BJP.

Meanwhile, in Karimnagar, the party threw its weight behind the official candidate. PCC President Mahesh Kumar Goud, Ministers Sridhar Babu, Ponnam Prabhakar, Uttam Kumar Reddy, Konda Surekha, district MLAs, MLCs, former ministers Shabbir Ali and Jeevan Reddy participated in the nomination rally of party’s MLC candidate Narender Reddy.

The deadline of filing nomination for the MLC elections ended on Monday. They will be examined on Tuesday. A total of 85 nominations have been filed so far for Karimnagar - Nizamabad - Adilabad - Medak Graduates, Teachers MLC, and Nalgonda - Khammam - Warangal Teachers MLC. The deadline for withdrawal of nominations will end on February 13. Polling for the MLC election will be held on February 27. The election results will be announced on March 3 and its process will be completed by March 8.