Disappointed ticket aspirants kick up dust

Hyderabad: Protesting the denial of tickets, ‘disgruntled’ Telangana Congress leaders were quitting the party ahead of the assembly elections. A day after the announcement of the list of 45 candidates, denied ticket aspirants came out against the party leadership accusing them of neglecting the sincere leaders in the allotment of tickets. The ticket aspirants also staged a big dharna at Gandhi Bhavan. High tension prevailed at the party office.

Ticket aspirant from Jubilee Hills and former MLA P Vishnuvardhan Reddy alleged that TPCC president A Revanth Reddy was allocating tickets to those who joined the party recently. He took strong exception to announcing former cricketer Mohd Azharuddin as the party candidate. Reddy said that he would resign from the party for denying ticket in the elections. He also pointed out that the Congress leadership allotted tickets to many family members against the Udaipur declaration. Kukatpally Congress leader G Venkat Rao broke down in public for denying the ticket.

He questioned the party high command for allotting tickets to B Ramesh. He held a meeting with his supporters and decided to quit the party. Leaders said that Rao is likely to join BRS in a day or two.

Telangana Youth Congress president Shivsena Reddy and NSUI state unit chief B Venkat were also disappointed for not including their names in the list of the candidates. Shivsena Reddy lobbied for a ticket to fight from the Wanaprathy constituency. However, the party leadership gave the ticket to former minister G Chinna Reddy. Venkat tried hard for the Huzurabad ticket but the leadership declined his plea. He contested unsuccessfully from the assembly segment in byelections held in 2021.

Leaders said that ticket aspirant from Munugodu Ch Krishna Reddy was also denied opportunity to fight the elections. He has been aspiring for a ticket for the last five years. The party announced Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy as the candidate who won from the segment in 2018 elections. He quit Congress and fought the byelections on the BJP ticket and lost to BRS.