Poll pressure: BJP directs its MPs & MLAs to contest for Telangana assembly

HYDERABAD: Ahead of releasing its first list, senior BJP leaders including MLAs and MPs have been told by the party to contest the upcoming assembly elections. The directive was issued by party national organising secretary BL Santhosh during the state council meeting on Friday despite many seniors showing a reluctance to enter assembly poll fray. The BJP has four Lok Sabha MPs and three MLAs in the state.

The BJP is likely to release a first list of 48 candidates soon after 'amavasya', falling on October 13 or 14, sources said.

"The party has named central and state ministers for Madhya Pradesh assembly elections. A similar method is being adopted here too. There is also a written communication to all the legislators to contest," a source said.

Santhosh also said that apart from senior leaders the party would like to give opportunity to many who did not get a chance to contest earlier, sources said.

The party's four MPs are Union minister and BJP state chief G Kishan Reddy (Secunderabad), D Arvind (Nizamabad), Bandi Sanjay (Karimnagar) and Soyam Bapu Rao (Adilabad).


Kishan may contest polls from Amberpet

Former state BJP chief and national president of OBC Morcha, K Laxman, is a Rajya Sabha MP from Uttar Pradesh. Of these, Sanjay, Kishan Reddy, Bapu Rao and Laxman had contested for assembly in 2018 but lost. While Laxman did not contest again and was subsequently nominated to the RS, the other three entered poll fray for Lok Sabha in 2019 and won, giving BJP a major push in the state. Arvind had directly contested in LS polls in 2019.

The three MLAs are Raghunandan Rao (Dubbak), Eatala Rajender (Huzurabad) and suspended MLA Raja Singh (Goshamahal). Among the three, Raghunandan was the only one to apply for a ticket when the party sought applications recently. “There is no clear signal from Rajender about his intention to contest. In the case of Raja Singh, the party may him to contest,” a source said.

Insiders said that Santosh had a word with Sanjay on contesting for assembly and told him that the party would speak to him again. The party had replaced Sanjay with Kishan Reddy as state chief after dissent over his leadership within the state unit. “There is a possibility that Kishan Reddy may contest again from Amberpet, a constituency he had represented in the past,” a source said. Sources said the BJP will release its list of contestants for 119 seats in three phases. “As the Congress is in the final phase of releasing the list, our list will also be out soon,” a senior leader said.