Telangana Assembly Elections: Congress Contestants Finalised, To Be Announced Soon?

Hyderabad: The Congress party's list of candidates for the upcoming Assembly elections has been sent to the All India Congress Committee (AICC), it is learned. After a three-day tour across Telangana, the Congress screening committee under the leadership of Bhakta Charan Das has finalised a preliminary list of contestants after consultations with hundreds of leaders as also conduct of surveys. The committee, after analysing the possible outcome in various constituencies, has returned to New Delhi.

As part of the consultations, the screening committee, comprising Chairman Bhakta Charan Das, Sharmishta Mukherjee and Jyothimani Sennimalai, held several rounds of discussions on the prospects of various Congress candidates in their respective constituencies. Between October 10 and 12, the committee received the opinion of the Election Committee on candidate selection, conducted meetings with DCC presidents, TPCC leaders and ticket aspirants in various constituencies.

Also, TPCC Chief Uttam Kumar Reddy, important leaders Jana Reddy, Jaipal Reddy, DK Aruna and Revanth Reddy had met up with the Committee to express their opinions on candidate selection. Based on feedback from various leaders, the Committee, it is learnt, has filtered a large pool of aspirants to arrive at a final list that has only one candidate in almost 70 constituencies.

Constituencies For TDP, CPI, TJS

The screening committee has also contemplated on the seat sharing among parties in the grand Congress alliance, the TDP, CPI and the TJS, in their discussions with the top Congress leaders.

In view of the MIM's dominance in the old city area, the Congress leaders are in favour of joining hands with MBT party. To counter former MIM floor leader Akbaruddin Owaisi, the Congress is reportedly mulling the option of fielding MIM's political rival Mohd. Pahilwan from Chandrayangutta constituency, it is learnt. All in all, the Congress is likely to contest in seven Assembly constituencies in old city along with the MBT.

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