Huzurabad by-poll: Congress keeps cards close to chest

Warangal: The Congress appears to be keeping its cards close to its chest by holding back its decision on the candidature for the ensuing by-election to the Huzurabad Assembly.

Earlier, it was speculated that former minister Konda Surekha is right on the radar of the party leadership to field from Huzurabad. It was also said that TPCC president A Revanth Reddy was supposed to announce Konda Surekha as party's nominee at the 'Dalit Girijana Atma Gourava Dandora' meeting at Raviryala on August 18. But it wasn't to be.

According to party sources, the leadership held back its decision after a few Huzurabad constituency leaders raised objections over the candidature of Konda Surekha. The leaders belonging to Kamalapur mandal who met the party leaders who camped in Hyderabad for the last couple of days demanded the ticket only from the locals.

Another version doing the rounds was that the Konda couple wants an assurance from the leadership about their future. It's said that the couple wanted their sway over the Bhupalpally, Parkal and Warangal East constituencies in the 2023 elections. But the Congress leadership which reportedly assured Bhupalpally ticket to Gandra Satyanarayana appears to be in dilemma.

It's also learnt that the party wants Konda Surekha to carve out a niche for herself in Huzurabad as it has no prominent leader in the constituency after the departure of Padi Kaushik Reddy who joined the TRS recently. Meanwhile, Konda Surekha was not available to comment on the development.

Against this backdrop, a few SC community leaders led by the AICC member Bakka Judson met Telangana AICC in-charge Manickam Tagore and urged him to give ticket to a SC community leader.

They proposed the candidature of Tipparapu Sampath who heads Eatala Rajender Badhitula Sangham in Huzurabad. Speaking to The Hans India, Judson said, "Candidature of Dalit is likely to work in Huzurabad from where TRS Government launched Dalit Bandhu scheme on August 16."