Chief Minister and TRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao on Monday announced that Sujata, wife of late MLA Solipeta Ramalinga Reddy, will be the party’s candidate for the Dubbak bye-polls. The election is scheduled on November 3. TRS MLA Ramalinga Reddy, who had previously worked as a journalist, succumbed due to cardiac arrest earlier in August, resulting in the bye-elections. Ramalinga Reddy had won from the constituency twice consecutively in 2014 and 2018. In 2018, he won the election with a majority of over 62,000 votes.
Speaking about Ramalinga and announcing his wife's candidature, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao said, "He worked hard during the Telangana agitation for separate statehood and also for the TRS party. He dedicated himself to the development of his constituency Dubbaka, till he breathed his last. His family was active in the movement and in constituency development and the family has a good name in the constituency."
Further stating that the decision to field Sujatha in the bye-election field was taken after due consultation with district leaders, the CM said, "In order to continue the progress of Dubbaka and to implement government programmes as they were earlier, the TRS party feels that only a family member of Ramalinga Reddy will do justice.”
Meanwhile, Congress has assured a ticket to Cheruku Srinivas Reddy who is the son of late Muthyam Reddy, a former MLA and functionary of TRS who passed away in 2019. According to reliable sources, Srinivas Reddy is expected to join the Congress on Tuesday evening. Raghunandan Rao who is being nominated from the BJP, is also campaigning in the constituency. Several BJP leaders of the state unit are flocking to the villages in the constituency to reach out to people.
In a related development, on Monday night, the Cyberabad police seized two cars which were transporting Rs 40 lakh cash to the poll bound constituency at Shamirpet.
The accused were identified as Srinivas Babu, Md. Majeed, Puligiri Suresh and Bhavani Anjaneyulu. They were caught around 7 pm, according to reports. The cash reportedly belonging to a BJP leader and was meant to be distributed among the voters for the elections.