All set for battle of ballot in Telangana

• Nominations phase ends; all top leaders choose last day
• 1,746 in fray for 119 MLA seats and 350 for 19 MP seats
• Rebels from all parties file nominations at several places
• Parties tremble over rebel trouble
• Why Kishan Reddy wasn’t in first list?
• Suspense over TRS final list ends
• TDP leader turns BJP candidate
• TRS fields Allu Arjun’s father-in-law

Hyderabad: Filing of nominations for 119 Assembly and 17 Lok Sabha seats in Telangana came to an end on Wednesday. All the District Collectorates witnessed a flurry of activity as all top leaders representing various political parties chose to file their nominations on the last day. According to tentative figures, 1,746 nominations were filed for 119 Assembly seats, and 350 for 19 Lok Sabha seats. Voting for the Lok Sabha and the Assembly elections in Telangana will take place on April 30. Prominent among those who filed the nominations were Union Ministers S Jaipal Reddy, Sarve Satyanarayana and Balaram Naik, TRS chief KCR, his daughter Kavita, actress-turned politician Vijayashanti, TPCC president Ponnala Lakshmaiah and CPI State Secretary K Narayana.

Union Ministers S Jaipal Reddy, Sarve Satyanarayana and Balaram Naik submitted their papers for Mahabubnagar, Malkajgiri and Mahabubabad Lok Sabha seats respectively. KCR went to the Medak Collectorate in a huge convoy along with a large number of party activists. Later, he went to Gajwel to file papers for Assembly constituency. Vijayashanti, now in Congress, submitted her papers for the Medak Assembly seat at local tahsildar’s office. The other prominent TRS leaders who filed nominations are KCRs son KT Rama Rao from Sircilla and nephew T Harish Rao from Siddipet.

Interestingly, a TRS member from Medak, who welcomed KCR when he went to file his nomination, later filed nomination as a rebel candidate for the same Lok Sabha seat. In Nizamabad and Khammam respectively, Kavita and Nama Nageswar Rao (TDP) filed their nominations for LS seats. Rao went in a huge rally to the Collectorate along with TDP activists to hand over the papers to the returning officer.

Accompanied by District Congress Committee (DCC) women’s wing president Ponnala Vaishali and son Muralikrishna, Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president Ponnala Lakshmaiah filed papers for the Jangaon Assembly constituency in Warangal district. Fighting his first election, CPI State secretary Narayana filed his nomination at the Khammam Collectorate.

The other prominent faces that filed the nominations were former ministers K Jana Reddy (Nagarjunasagar), D Sridhar Babu (Manthani), N Uttamkumar Reddy (Huzurnagar), Talasani Srinivas Yadav and M Sashidhar Reddy (both Sanathnagar), Danam Nagender from Khairatabad, Rajya Sabha Member V Hanumantha Rao and T BJP chief G Kishan Reddy (Amberpet) and former APCC chief D Srinivas (Nizamabad Rural). Hyderabad District Collectorate witnessed a heavy rush of candidates. T Bhimsen, TRS’ candidate for Secunderabad Lok Sabha, was the first to file nomination.

Sitting MP Anjan Kumar Yadav (Congress) was accompanied by his wife. Senior BJP leader and Secunderabad Lok Sabha candidate Bandaru Dattatreya was accompanied by wife, son and daughter. He was later joined by BJP senior leader M Venkaiah Naidu. The dejected aspirants of various parties resorted to violence, protesting against denial of tickets. While in L B Nagar TDP BC candidates R Krishnaiah was attacked, in Nalgonda TDP activists who were upset with the party leaving the seat to BJP as part of poll tie-up. The followers of the TDP Bhupal Reddy attacked the party office and broke furniture. TDP activists also resorted to violence in Kollapur in Mahabubanagar district.