NEW DELHI
Telangana Congress leaders have suggested that there is little possibility for an announcement of ticket distribution before October.
The CWC and other involvements of major leaders in the state will eventually defer the announcement, they said. However, Chief Minister and Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) president K. Chandrashekar Rao already announced his party’s candidature for 115 of 119 Assembly seats. Nine sitting BRS MLAs were not given tickets for the upcoming elections, though the party announced it would contest alone. There is apprehension among leaders that an early announcenment would upset the many aspirants who won’t be getting tickets and they will not work for the party’s big events in September. An insider said, “We will take time to assess the candidates first and then give tickets. The CWC meeting is a very important event and we want all Congressmen to support it wholeheartedly. If we decide it early, we could lose momentum. We are all prepared, and the subsequent rally will mobilise the whole cadre in the state. This would be the biggest Congress rally in the state and even the whole country. We are expecting around 10 lakh people which will be a show in itself, provided all decisions are taken efficiently. Moreover, all four Congress CMs are visiting the state. ” There is high participation by aspirants. In Yellandu, an ST seat, there are around 32 aspirants and 20 in a General seat. On Uttam Kumar Reddy’s seat, Huzurnagar, where he won five times, there are seven aspirants “where none would be taken into consideration.”
An OBC leader said, “There will be a struggle if the leadership does not give at least 40 tickets to the OBCs, it will be seen to be not in good taste. There are more than 55% OBC population in the state and based on seat share, we should get at least 60 seats…everybody is flexible in the party for greater good, but less OBC tickets will not go down well.”However, party leaders say compared to KCR, the party was not consulted for distribution. A senior leader said, “Before the announcement of tickets, KCR had consulted enough and knew a lot about almost everything and every constituency. He is a smart politician and has got ideas which the Congress is lacking.”