Telangana polls: Congress releases third list of 13 candidates

The Congress Saturday released its third list of 13 candidates, including former PCC president Ponnala Lakshmaiah, for the December 7 Legislative Assembly polls in Telangana. Lakshmaiah, who also served as a minister in the Congress government in undivided Andhra Pradesh till 2014, had failed to find a berth in the previous lists. Lakshmaiah would contest from his Jangaon assembly segment.

It was speculated that the Jangaon seat would go to Telangana Jana Samiti (TJS), a partner in the "grand alliance" for the elections.

The alliance comprises Congress, TDP, CPI and TJS. As part of the alliance, Congress would contest in 94 assembly segments (out of total 119). With the release of the third list, the party has so far declared candidates for 88 seats.

Meanwhile, TDP has declared Kuna Venkatesh Goud as its nominee from Sanathnagar in Hyderabad. The announcement is bad news for Congress leader Marri Sasidhar Reddy who represented the constituency earlier. Sasidhar Reddy, son of former Chief Minister Marri Chenna Reddy, is a key Congress leader in Telangana.

He was Vice Chairman of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) during UPA regime at the Centre. The process of filing nominations began Monday with the Election Commission issuing a notification in this regard.

(With inputs from agencies.)