BJP nominates three Lok Sabha MPs for Telangana polls

The names of the candidates were finalised at the Central Election Committee (CEC) meeting chaired by party national president JP Nadda and attended by Modi and Amit Shah on Friday in New Delhi.

Hyderabad: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday released a list of 52 candidates for the upcoming assembly elections in Telangana. The elections to the State assembly are scheduled to be held on November 30.

The names of the candidates were finalised at the Central Election Committee (CEC) meeting chaired by party national president  JP Nadda and attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday in New Delhi.

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Out of the 52 candidates, 20 belong to  Backward Castes, 12 from the Reddy community and 6 from Velama community while 14 are from the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. As many as 12 women have found their names in the first list.

However, the names of  Union Tourism Minister and BJP State president G Kishan Reddy, Rajya Sabha member K Laxman,  BJP vice-president DK Aruna, former MLA Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy and former MP Vijayshanti were missing from the list.

The BJP has fielded three sitting MPs – Bandi Sanjay, Arvind Dharmapuri and Soyam Bapu Rao – in the upcoming assembly polls.  Bandi Sanjay will contest from Karimnagar, Arvind Dharmapuri from Korutla and Bapu Rao from Boath. Election management committee chairman Eatala Rajender will be contesting from two seats Huzurabad and Gajwel, from where BRS supremo and Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao will be contesting.

Suspended BJP MLA T Raja Singh was renominated from Goshamahal. The BJP had on Sunday revoked his suspension.  Raja Singh was suspended by the BJP in August last year after he was booked by the Hyderabad police for his alleged derogatory comments against Prophet Mohammed.

Former TDP MLA Annapurnamma has been chosen for the Balkonda constituency. Chandupatla Keerthi Reddy, the daughter-in-law of BJP stalwart Chandupatla Janga Reddy, is the candidate for Bhupalapally. BJP State spokesperson Rani Rudrama will contest from Sircilla against BRS working president and IT Minister  KT Rama Rao, while Boga Shravani, the municipal chairperson of Jagtial municipality, who recently switched from the BRS to the BJP, will contest from Jagtial. Other women candidates in the first list include Arunatara from Jukkal, Bodige Shobha from Choppadandi and Rao Padma from Warangal West.

M Raghunandan Rao will be defending his Dubbaka seat, while Gudur Narayana Reddy, who produced the Razakar movie, has been given the Bhongir ticket. Panchayati Raj Minister Errabelli Dayakar Rao’s brother Errabelli  Pradeep Rao has been fielded from Warangal East.