BJP to contest Medak lok sabha seat - TeluguPeople.com News

HYDERABAD: The BJP, which is aiming to capture power in Telangana in the 2019 elections, has decided to take on the ruling TRS head-on by contesting the by-election for the Medak Lok Sabha seat vacated by chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao who also won the Gajwel Assembly seat and retained it.

The saffron party, despite playing a vital role in the formation of Telangana state, failed to take advantage of it in the general election in Telangana and sees the Medak LS bypoll as an opportunity to strengthen its base in the state.

BJP's Telangana unit chief G Kishan Reddy, who had tried hard to get the party ticket to contest the Secunderabad Lok Sabha seat recently, has now set his sights on the Medak seat and has conveyed his wish to the party leadership. As for the BJP, its top leaders want to field a tough candidate in Medak and Kishan Reddy seems to fit the bill.

According to sources, actor and Jana Sena founder Pawan Kalyan, who is considered close to prime minister Narendra Modi and BJP top leadership, favours Kishan Reddy's candidature and has agreed to campaign for him. Kishan Reddy, however, has denied that he is in the race for the Medak LS seat. 'I am not in the race. The party leadership will take a decision on selection of candidate,' he said.

Under the seat-sharing agreement between the two parties, the BJP had contested Medak seat but its candidate C Narendranath finished third.

Now with the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre, the party's state unit is confident that the people of Medak would vote for the party this time.

The TRS has bagged all the seven Assembly seats under the Medak LS constituency and it will be very difficult for the BJP to win the seat which KCR won by a margin of 3.97 lakh votes, the highest for any candidate in undivided Andhra Pradesh.

Prominent TRS aspirants to the seat are TRS Medak district president R Satyanarayana, K Prabhakar Reddy from Dubbak, TNGO president Devi Prasad Rao and retired IAS officer KV Ramanachary. According to sources, the TRS chief has already assured Prabhakar Reddy, Ramanachary and Devi Prasad that one of them will be given the ticket.

Telangana BJP leaders think that people of Medak will vote for their candidate as they are disappointed with the TRS government which has failed to keep its poll promises, especially on waiving of crop loans.