Hyderabad

Two months after announcing almost all candidates for the Telangana Assembly elections, the ruling party Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) remained undecided on its nominees for three constituencies while there is a buzz about the change of candidate in one segment.

Though the BRS is much ahead of its rivals in announcing candidates and launching the campaign, the delay in announcing the candidates in three constituencies has led to confusion among its cadres.

BRS president and Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao had announced candidates for 115 out of 119 constituencies on August 21, more than 45 days before the announcement of the poll schedule. Confident of a hat-trick, KCR retained almost all sitting legislators. The sitting MLAs were denied tickets in eight constituencies, including Kamareddy, from where CM KCR will be contesting in addition to Gajwel, which he currently represents.

Sitting MLA Mynampalli Hanumantha Rao was renominated from Malkajgiri constituency but he later resigned from the party as his demand for party ticket to his son Rohith Rao from Medak was not accepted by KCR. The father-son duo recently joined Congress, which fielded them from Malkajgiri and Medak respectively.

BRS replaced Hanumantha Rao with Marri Rajasekhara Reddy as its candidate from Malkajgiri. Son-in-law of Labour Minister Malla Reddy, Rajasekhar Reddy had unsuccessfully contested from Malkajgiri Lok Sabha constituency as the BRS candidate in 2019.

In Jangaon, one of the segments where the BRS had not announced its candidates, sitting MLAMuthireddy Yadagiri Reddy was insisting that the party should retain him as its candidate while MLC P. Rajeshwar Reddy wanted to enter the fray. An agreement was reached after BRS appointed Yadagiri Reddy as Chairman of Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC). Rajeshwar Reddy has received the B-form from the party.