Six aspirants vie for BJP ticket from Adilabad Lok Sabha segment

Nominees for six Lok Sabha constituencies in Telangana were reportedly finalised by the party on Sunday.

Adilabad: The Bharatiya Janata Party’s Adilabad MP Soyam Bapu Rao, who is likely to be denied the ticket of the party in the forthcoming polls to Lok Sabha, is facing stiff opposition from three BJP MLAs, who cite his non-cooperation during the recent Assembly elections.

Nominees for six Lok Sabha constituencies in Telangana were reportedly finalised by the party on Sunday. Three sitting MPs such as G Kishan Reddy from Secunderabad, Bandi Sanjay of Karimnagar and D Aravind for Nizamabad were likely to be retained, with the remaining three candidates said to be new entrants. However, the candidate for the Adilabad segment has been kept on hold.

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Bapu Rao, who won from Adilabad in 2019, is confident of being fielded for the second time. However, his candidature is being strongly rejected by the party’s leaders and MLAs including A Maheshwar Reddy, Ramarao Patel and Payal Shankar.

He is also drawing flak for failing to extend cooperation to the legislators during the Assembly elections. Rao reportedly backed candidates of Opposition parties fielded in Asifabad and Boath segments in the Assembly elections by favoring weak candidates. It is learnt that the ties between Rao and Adilabad MLA Payal Shankar soured.

Bapu Rao is also known for making controversial statements, creating troubles for the party. His admission to diversion of funds of Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS) by performing the wedding of his son had embarrassed the party earlier.

Meanwhile, former Adilabad MPs G Nagesh, Ramesh Rathod, ZP Chairperson Janardhan Rathod, Dr Naitham Sumalatha, Tudumdebba leader Kotnaka Vijay and Rajesh Babu are eying the ticket. While Nagesh, Sumalatha and Vijay are from the Raj Gond community, Ramesh and Janardhan belong to the Lambada caste. Sumalatha, a comparatively newcomer in politics, works with the Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS)-Adilabad.

Vijay, who was in fray as an Independent from Asifabad Assembly constituency, had secured 16,469 votes. He actively participates in protests of Tudumdebba, a tribal rights organisation and protests of BJP. Ramesh Rathod has secured 52,398 votes and stood third in Khanapur.

List of Congress aspirants is quite long

The list of ticket aspirants in the Congress party for the Adilabad Lok Sabha seat is quite long, and growing.

Former Khanapur MLA Rekha Naik, her husband Shyam Naik, government teacher from Jainoor mandal Athram Suguna and AICC member Naresh Jadhav, ITDA APO Athram Bhaskar, RIMS director Jaising Rathod, additional DMHO Kumra Balu B Ed 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, Athram Roshan, etc., are vying for the Congress ticket.

Rekha Naik had joined the Congress after being denied a BRS ticket from Khanapur in the recent Assembly polls. Shyam Naik stood in second with 60,238 votes from Asifabad Assembly segment. Naresh Jadhav, a PhD graduate from Boath said that Karnataka Congress leader DK Shiva Kumar had promised him the ticket for opting out during the Assembly elections.

It is learnt that the Congress party will pit a candidate from the Lambada community if BJP and BRS field Adivasi nominees from Adilabad.