Telangana Assembly Polls in Oct-Nov

Hyderabad: BRS president and Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao is likely to announce the list of party candidates for the ensuing Assembly elections any time after August 17. Party sources told Hans India that KCR was in midst of a major exercise to finalise the names of the candidates at his farmhouse. It is likely that he may announce the list of over 100 candidates in one go.

It may be recalled here that KCR had done a similar act during the 2018 Assembly elections. He had announced the names of 105 candidates in one go. The Chief Minister would be staying in the farmhouse for another three to four days zeroing in on the probable candidates. There are 119 Assembly constituencies in the state and announcing 100 candidates would mean finalisation of almost all the candidates because seven constituencies in the old city would be contested by the friendly party AIMIM. This means that there will be only 12 seats left for announcing in the second phase. The BRS chief will be back in the city on August 15 as part of the Independence Day celebrations where he would be hoisting the National Flag at Golkonda.

With August 16 being Amavasya, the leaders said KCR may announce the list on day one of ‘Shravana’ starting from August 17.

The party leaders say that the elections may take place any time in October-November and by announcing the candidates in advance, the BRS chief can dedicate enough time for campaign. “KCR is our star campaigner and many leaders will want him to address public meetings in their constituencies and announce sops so that whatever anti-incumbency is there can be negated,” said a senior BRS leader. The party leadership has finalised the candidates in some segments and also has announced during the visits to those constituencies by the BRS working president KT Rama Rao and Finance Minister T Harish Rao. The first one to be announced was Padi Kaushik Reddy from Huzurabad. Similarly, Alla Venkateshwar Reddy’s name was announced from Devarakadra, V Satish from Husnabad, Mahipal Reddy from Patancheru, Bhupal Reddy from Narayankhed, etc.