While the seat-sharing negotiation of the grand alliance comprising Congress-TDP-TJS and CPI is still underway, CPI state secretary Chada Venkat Reddy had made it clear that he would be part of the alliance to overthrow the TRS government, irrespective of whether the Congress gives him a ticket from Husnabad constituency or not.
Venkat Reddy, who had previously contested in the 2004 elections and won as the MLA from then Indurthi constituency, has now shown interest to contest from the Husnabad constituency. Though Venkat Reddy expressed his interest openly, the Congress has declined his request as they want to re-elect their strong candidate Aligireddy Praveen Reddy, who had lost the previous elections to sitting TRS MLA Vodithela Satish Reddy, with a margin of 34,269 votes.
The Congress party has reportedly offered Venkat Reddy a seat from the Ramagundam constituency. However, he said that he would rather not contest in the elections, but at the same time, he wouldn’t walk out of the alliance.
Venkat Reddy said that the seat-sharing should not cause any trouble in the alliance, a similar view expressed by another ally, Chandrababu Naidu, president of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP). Chandrababu Naidu, who had recently visited Telangana to overview the party’s preparedness for the upcoming elections, said that the alliance is more important than the seat-sharing.
Though Venkat Reddy had made it clear that the CPI wouldn’t walk out of the alliance, he is still hoping that the Congress party would give him a ticket from Husnabad. He has been claiming that Husnabad has a strong presence of the leftists.
Speaking to TNM, Venkat said, “The seat-sharing deliberation is still going on. It will be finalised in a day or two. We will be part of the alliance, and it would work to dethrone KCR.”
Husnabad constituency was created in 2009 after dissolving the Kamalapuram constituency. It was part of the erstwhile Karimnagar district. However, now it is spread across Karimnagar, Warangal and Siddipet districts.
After its creation, Praveen Reddy had won as the MLA with 49,370 votes. This constituency was previously a bastion of TDP. The party's leader Muddasani Damodar Reddy had won from then Kamalapuram constituency for four consecutive times from 1985.