T.Jeevan Reddy

NEW DELHI: The Congress on Thursday announced the candidature of T. Jeevan Reddy, MLA, for the byelection to the Karimnagar Lok Sabha constituency.

The seat fell vacant after the resignation of Telangana Rashtra Samiti chief K. Chandrasekhar Rao, who has decided to re-contest the byelection.

According to a report from Hyderabad, the Karimnagar bypoll became inevitable after Sports Minister M. Satyanarayana Rao threw the gauntlet at Mr. Chandrasekhara Rao to quit the seat and contest against him.

Accepting the challenge, the TRS chief quit the Lok Sabha and challenged the Congress to fight him.

Right from day one, Mr. Jeevan Reddy appeared to have been the favourite for the party ticket even as Mr. Satyanarayana Rao insisted that he was prepared to take on Mr. Chandrasekhara Rao. But on Sunday last,

Mr. Satyanarayana Rao dropped enough hints that he was not in the race and said the party was in favour of Mr. Reddy.

A three-time MLA from Jagtial segment, Mr. Jeevan Reddy served as Minister from 1989 to 1994 when the Congress was in power.

A strong votary of separate Telangana, Mr. Reddy was one of the founders of the Telangana Congress Legislators' Forum and was among the 41 Congress legislators who submitted memorandum to AICC president Sonia Gandhi seeking her consent for the formation of Telangana State.

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