The Hindu : KCR to contest for LS, Assembly

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Mar 31, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

KCR to contest for LS, Assembly

By Our Staff Reporter

HYDERABAD, MARCH 30. The heavy weights of Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), K. Chandrasekhar Rao and A. Narendra, will contest both Lok Sabha and Assembly elections.

While Mr. Rao will file his nomination for Karimnagar Lok Sabha and Siddipet Assembly seats, Mr. Narendra, who has already filed the papers for Medak Lok Sabha, will repeat the act for Bhongir Assembly segment, on Wednesday, the last day.

Mr. Narendra told reporters on Tuesday night that their decision to contest two seats each was taken out of "compulsions" and not "fear" of losing. The logic was to send one of them to the Centre and retain the other in the State. "Who would go where depended on the post-poll scenario".

Earlier in the day, Mr. Rao had declared himself a candidate for Siddipet Assembly only, setting at rest speculation about his contesting from Karimnagar Parliamentary constituency.

In the two lists released by TRS during the day, the party named ten nominees for Assembly polls and former Ranga Reddy Zilla Parishad Chairman, K.S. Ratnam, as the candidate for Nagarkurnool (SC) and an advocate, B. Vinod Kumar, for Hanamkonda Lok Sabha seats. The selection of Mr. Vinod Kumar was surprising as the former Kakatiya University Vice-Chancellor, K. Jayashankar, was tipped for Hanamkonda.

With this, thirty two candidates (including Narendra for Bhongir) for Assembly and all six (including KCR for Karimnagar) for Lok Sabha were announced by the party.

The list of Assembly candidates released on Tuesday includes the four-time MLA from Vikarabad (SC) in Ranga Reddy district, A. Chandrasekhar, who resigned from the TDP recently protesting against the alleged bid by Home Minister, T. Devendar Goud to sabotage his candidature. Another former MLA of Mudhole in Adilabad, Narayan Rao Patel, who resigned from the TDP following the surrendering of the seat to BJP in the seat sharing accord, has been fielded by TRS from the same segment. Mudhole seat was held by the Congress in the dissolved Assembly with its sitting MLA, G. Gaddenna, winning from there six times.

The two-time MLA of Congress from Peddapalli in Karimnagar, Geetla Mukund Reddy, will contest on TRS ticket from the same constituency.

The former president of Karimnagar district unit of BJP, Kasipeta Lingaiah, who created a sensation by switching loyalty to TRS along with two other BJP members in the election of the Zilla Parishad Chairman in 2001, is the candidate from Nerella Assembly segment in the same district.

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