Congress yet to decide on candidate for Adilabad

The BRS is going to field former Asifabad MLA Athram Sakku from Adilabad Parliament constituency.

Adilabad: Even as the BRS and the BJP have declared their nominees for the Adilabad Parliament segment and stepped up their campaigning, the Congress is yet to announce its candidate.

The BRS is going to field former Asifabad MLA Athram Sakku from Adilabad Parliament constituency which will see polls on May 13.

---

Ex MP Godam Nagesh is the fray on the ticket of the BJP. However, the nominee of the Congress has not been finalized so far. Names of candidates for only four segments were announced till now. Adilabad is among the pending 13 constituencies.

When it comes to the aspirants, the list of seekers is quite a long one. AICC member Naresh Jadhav, former Khanapur MLA Rekha Naik, her husband Shyam Naik, government employees Athram Suguna, Athram Bhaskar, RIMS director Jaising Rathod, additional DMHO Kumra Balu, BEd College principal Mesram Manohar, retired industry officer Jadhav Ramkishan etc, IT department assistant commissioner officer Rathod Prakash, tribal community leaders Jadhav Shravan, Ade Gajender, Bheem Rao and Athram Roshan are all vying for the ticket.

Naresh Jadhav, Rekha Naik, Shyam Naik, Athram Suguna and Athram Bhaskar are learnt to be frontrunners of the ticket, considering various factors.

For instance, Naresh has been associated with the party for around 20 years. He joined politics by resigning from the post of assistant professor at department of environment science at Osmania University in 2008.

Jadhav had contested on the ticket of the Congress and stood second in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. He was credited to enrolling the highest memberships for the party in Boath Assembly constituency in 2009, 2013 and 2015.

He was replaced by Ramesh Rathod in the 2019 elections. However, the Congress ended up third, though the share of votes was 29.5 percent compared to 26.3 percent in 2014.

Rekha Naik is also lobbying with top leaders of the party leveraging her experience in politics, while her husband Shyam has intensified efforts to bag the ticket citing community support.

A government teacher from Jainoor mandal, Athram Suguna and ITDA APO Athram Bhaskar are leaving no stone unturned to get the ticket. The party is likely to announce the second of candidates on March 18 or 19.

In the recent Assembly polls, the cumulative share of votes for Congress nominees in seven segments was 20 percent as against 32 percent secured in the 2018 elections, reflecting a significant decline in the votes.