Senior Congress leader K Jana Reddy's son Kunduru Raghuveer, and former MP Suresh Kumar Shetkar from Telangana are among the 36 candidates announced by Congress on Friday, March 8, for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Four MP candidates have been announced from Telangana — Suresh Shetkar from Zahirabad (ST) constituency, Challa Vamshi Chand Reddy from Mahabubnagar, Raghuveer Kunduru from Nalgonda and Balram Naik from Mahabubabad (ST).
Senior Congress leader Suresh Kumar Shetkar previously served as the MLA from Narayankhed in 2004 and later as the MP from Zahirabad in 2009, but lost the same seat in 2014. He will now face off against BJP's Bibi Patil in Zahirabad. Vamshi Chand Reddy had finished third in Mahabubnagar in the 2019 election.
Balram Naik is a former Union Minister who previously represented the Mahabubabad Lok Sabha constituency. He was elected from Mahabubabad in 2009 but suffered a defeat in the 2014 and 2019 elections. K Raghuveer, son of senior Congress leader K Jana Reddy, has secured the party's ticket from the Nalgonda constituency.
The four are among 36 candidates cleared by the Central Election Committee of the Congress. Party general secretary KC Venugopal announced the full list on March 8.
Of the four seats for which Congress announced its candidates on Friday, the party had won only Nalgonda in 2019. N Uttam Kumar Reddy was elected from here. He was elected to the Assembly in the recent elections and has been inducted into the state Cabinet.
Out of 17 Lok Sabha seats in the state, the Congress had bagged three in 2019 polls. The BRS had won nine seats while the BJP secured four seats. The AIMIM had retained Hyderabad.
The BRS, which lost power to Congress in the state, recently lost three sitting MPs. While two MPs joined the BJP, one defected to Congress.
Meanwhile, the BJP had already announced candidates for nine MP seats including Union Minister Kishan Reddy from Secunderabad, Bandi Sanjay from Nizamabad, Dharmapuri Arvind from Karimnagar, Etala Rajender from Malkajgiri, P Bharat from Nagarkurnool, Madhavi Latha from Hyderabad, and Boora Narsaiah Goud from Bhuvanagiri.
With IANS inputs