Congress still in a fix over Lok Sabha picks, for fresh survey

Karimnagar: The Congress party’s goal is to take the Karimnagar Parliament seat, which is currently held by the BJP. In this regard, there seems to be a special exercise being conducted on the candidature for this position.

Reportedly, Congress is planning to conduct another survey on the candidacies of former MLA Praveen Reddy, Velichala Rajender Rao, and Teenmar Mallanna who are contesting for the seat.

Two days ago, a team of MLAs along with Minister Pannam Prabhakar from the parliamentary constituency visited CM A Revanth Reddy and held long discussions. It was brought to the attention of the CM that either Rajender Rao or Praveen Reddy should be allotted MP ticket.

Meanwhile, the CM has taken a keen interest in the constituency as a key seat. Bandi Sanjay from BJP and Boinapally Vinod Kumar from BRS are in contest so far. Rajender Rao and Praveen Reddy, who are hoping for a Congress ticket from Karimnagar, have the ability to face Bandi.

Notably, Mallanna’s name was brought to the screen at the last moment in this process. A new name from the BC community has come to the fore surprisingly, even as the MLAs and Congress ranks insisted on giving the ticket to Rajendar or Praveen Reddy.

Arguably, it is imperative that the leadership select a Congress candidate in Karimnagar who can serve a blow to the BJP and BRS parties. The names of Rajender, Praveen Reddy, and Mallanna have come up along with actress Vijayashanti, who is also under consideration.

So far BRS has announced BCs as candidates in six of the total 17 seats in the state. Additionally, the BJP also gave 5 tickets to BCs. The Congress has so far announced 13 candidates and fielded BCs for only three seats.

As a result, while the other parties give a lot of support to the BCs, there is a chance Congress willallocate the Karimnagar ticket to the BCs because it thinks that the BCs will distance themselves from Congress if allocated fewer seats to the BCs.