Fear of rebels haunts Congress

The ruling Congress party could have well announced its candidates contesting the general elections since most of the names have been more or less finalised. But, fear of dissensions and rebels entering the fray is preventing the party from not making the names public.

There is no ambiguity at least in the following constituencies – Former Minister M. Sashidhar Reddy from Sanatnagar Assembly constituency and B.C. Welfare Minister M. Mukesh from the newly carved Goshamahal constituency. The incumbent Minister could be in for some tense moments as the unofficial ally – Majlis, too are likely to field a candidate from the constituency.

P. Vishnuvardhan Reddy, son of former CLP leader P. Janardhan Reddy, is going to shift base to another new Assembly constituency – Jubilee Hills. However, his efforts to get another party ticket to his sister, Vijaya Reddy, to contest from Khairatabad, might not fructify as there are strong indications that city Congress chief D. Nagender is likely to contest from here.

Former Pradesh Congress President K. Keshav Rao’s second son, K. Viplava Kumar, is to contest from another new Assembly segment of Serilingampally. An ex-Chairman of the AP Police Housing Corporation V. Narsing Rao is likely to contest from Kukatpally constituency. After much speculation, it is becoming clear that Siddipet MP Sarvey Satyanarayana would be contesting from Secunderabad Cantonment. The Congress party is studying the option of fielding two erstwhile heroines. If party gives the go ahead, Jayasudha could enter the fray from Secunderabad while Jeevitha, wife of actor Rajasekhar, may find herself testing her luck from either Musheerabad or Uppal. Son of former Chief Minister T.Anjaiah, T. Srinivas Reddy, is also aspiring for the seat, which is presently represented by his mother T. Manemma.

The war of nerves between MLA M. Ranga Reddy and ex-HUDA Chairman D. Sudhir Reddy continues. Both are keen on L.B. Nagar segment but as things stand now, Mr. Sudhir Reddy could be getting the ticket from here forcing Mr. Ranga Reddy to shift to Ibrahimpatnam. G. Srinivas Reddy is being mentioned for Malakpet segment while Adam Vijay Kumar’s name figures prominently from the new Malkajgiri segment.

Rangareddy district chief K.M. Pratap could be in the fray from Qutbullapur and another party leader Abid Rasool Khan is aspiring for the Amberpet constituency. The names of R. Laxma Reddy and Shyam Prasad Reddy also figure from Uppal.

Interestingly, other than the name of one, M.S. Prabhakar Rao from Nampally segment, there is not much information about aspirants from the Old City. The party’s “unofficial” understanding with MIM could see token contest by the Congress, sources maintained.