Denied ticket, Shankar Rao to fight as independent

​Hyderabad: Former Minister and senior Congress leader Dr P Shankar Rao has rebelled against the party high command for denying him party ticket from Shadnagar Assembly constituency. He also filed his nomination papers as an Independent candidate from the constituency. 

Accompanied by his daughter Susmitha, Shankar Rao submitted his nomination papers to the Shadnagar Returning Officer as an Independent candidate. Even as Dr Shankar Rao tried his best to secure party ticket by camping in New Delhi and pleaded his case with senior leaders of the party. But all his efforts to get ticket went in vain with the party leadership decided to field former MLA Ch Pratap Reddy from Shadnagar. 

Shocked at the rigid attitude of the party leadership for his candidature, Shankar Rao had no option than filing his nomination papers as an Independent candidate from the constituency. It may be mentioned here that Dr Shankar Rao represented the constituency for six consecutive terms earlier even during the NTR wave.