Hyderabad: Three of four sitting MPs and two BRS turncoats feature among the nine nominees from Telangana included in the BJP’s first list of a total of 195 candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
Union Minister for Tourism and Culture and Telangana unit BJP president G. Kishan Reddy will seek re-election from Secunderabad.
BJP general secretary Bandi Sanjay Kumar will contest again from Karimnagar.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has also retained Dharampuri Arvind, who had defeated Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) president and former chief minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s daughter, K. Kavitha, in Nizamabad in 2019.
The only sitting MP who does not figure in the first list is Soyam Bapu Rao from Adilabad. Bandi Sanjay, Arvind and Bapu Rao were all defeated in the Telangana Assembly elections held in November last year.
Former minister Eatala Rajender, who also suffered defeat in Assembly polls, will contest from Malkajgiri. The BRS MP from Zahirabad secured a BJP ticket from the same constituency a day after joining the BJP.
He was elected twice on the BRS ticket to 2014 and 2019. BRS MP from Nagarkurnool Pothuganti Ramulu, who switched to the BJP on February 29, succeeded in getting a BJP ticket for his son Pothuganti Bharat.
Former MP Burra Narsaiah Goud, who had quit TRS (now BRS) to join BJP in 2022, has been fielded from Bhongir.
He was elected from the same constituency in 2014 but suffered defeat in 2019.
Konda Vishweshwar Reddy, who had quit Congress to join BJP in 2022, will contest from Chevella, a constituency he represented earlier.
One of the richest politicians, he was elected on TRS ticket in 2014. He later joined Congress but failed to retain the seat in 2019.
K. Madhavi Latha, chairperson of Virinchi Hospitals, is the only woman candidate in the BJP’s first list.
She has been named as the party candidate from Hyderabad, a seat which All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) has never lost since 1984.
(IANS)
