TRS sources said Vijayashanti will not be given a party ticket to contest the parliament elections, and that KCR is likely to contest from Medak. “Vijayashanti has become a liability of sort for the party with her being disconnected with the ranks these days. And the general feeling in the party is that seriously committed leaders must be sent to Parliament,” said a senior TRS leader and hinted that she will be offered an assembly seat.
KCR will shift to Medak because it is considered a safer seat as compared to Mahbubnagar, which he represents right now. As a strategy, the TRS is floating the name of retired IAS officer K V Ramanachary for Medak, but party sources confirmed that KCR would be the candidate. Getting wind of it, Vijayashanti said she will let go of Medak if KCR wants it for himself, but will not give it to anyone else.
TRS sources said it was almost final that the party would field Kavitha, who is also president of Telangana Jagruthi, from Nizamabad. Her candidature is expected to be formally announced by KCR in a public function in Armoor in Nizamabad to celebrate the party formation day on April 27.
Choosing Nizamabad for the party celebration day is strategic, according the TRS sources, as the function would be a launch pad for Kavitha. Along with her name, KCR is expected to announce party candidates for three to four of the total 17 Lok Sabha seats from the Telangana region and over 25 candidates as first installment of the list of 119 for the Assembly polls.
While majority of MLAs in Nizamabad district are from TDP, the parliament constituency is represented by Congress MP Madhu Yaskhi. TRS has been urging T Congress MPs including Yaskhi to quit and join KCR with the promise that they will be re-nominated from the seats they represent. However, with the Congress MPs not taking the plunge, the TRS is threatening to go ahead in finalising the candidates.
Kavitha told INN she was willing to take up responsibility of contesting from Nizamabad in the interest of Telangana. “We are not hankering for power, but being in power is important in order to goad the Centre to grant separate statehood for Telangana,” added Kavitha.
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