KCR undecided on fighting LS polls
P5| KCR’S B’DAY TO SEE BIRTH OF 2 DISTRICTS
TRS president and Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao will start selecting candidates for the Lok Sabha elections even as he picks his ministers, and will finalise the nominees after February 19. It is learnt that Mr Rao is undecided on contesting for the Lok Sabha in pursuit of his Federal Front dream.
Out of 17 Lok Sabha seats in the state, Mr Rao has to select candidates for five or six but the choice of the Khammam candidate is proving to be a headache.
The TRS won 11 Lok Sabha seats in 2014, and one MP each from the Telugu Desam, Congress and the YSRC joined the party, taking its strength to 14.
TRS president and Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao will start selecting candidates for the Lok Sabha elections even as he picks his ministers, and finalise the nominees after February 19.
Mr Balka Suman (Peddapalli) and Ch Malla Reddy (Malkajgiri) resigned from the Lok Sabha after their election to the Assembly and Mr Konda Visweswar Reddy (Chevella) joined the Congress.
Most of the remaining
11 MPs will be renominated, except for one or two. Khammam will be the sticking point. Khammam MP Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy won on a YSRC ticket in 2014 and joined the TRS. He has a bitter rivalry with former minister Tummala Nageswara Rao in district politics. Mr Nageswara Rao was defeated in the recent state polls, and his supporters blamed the MP for the defeat.
Mr Rao has said that internal differences between party leaders cost the TRS about 10 to
15 seats and referred to Khammam district in particular. He noted that the TRS could win only one out of the 10 seats in Khammam.
Mr Nageswara Rao and the Chief Minister are said to be very close. It is not clear if Mr Rao will continue with Mr Srinivasa Reddy from the Khammam LS seat or nominate the former minister. If the two leaders cannot make peace, it is possible a third candidate could be selected for the seat.
TRS sources said Mr Rao was mulling changing Mahbubabad MP A. Sitaram Naik on the basis of his survey report. His replacements could be from among TS representative at Delhi Ramachandra Naik or Ms Malothu Kavitha, former MLA and daughter of TRS legislator D.S. Redya Naik. If Mr Naik is taken into the Cabinet, Ms Kavitha will not get the Lok Sabha ticket.