While ensuring the defeat of Congress is what TRS has planned in the next assembly polls, the party top brass has asked its leaders to prepare a blueprint to defeat three opponents, Revanth Reddy, Komatireddy Venkat Reddy and SA Sampath Kumar.
Revanth Reddy was in TDP before he joined Congress. He is expected to contest from Kondangal, his sitting seat. He has said he would not leave Kodangal though rumours were being spread that he would shift turf. Another sitting legislator is S A Sampath Kumar from Alampur. Komatireddy Venkat Reddy (Nalgonda constituency) may be renominated from the same seat.
In TRS president and chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s first list of 105 seats, he nominated Vallur Mallepogu Abraham from Alampur against Sampath Kumar, Patnam Narender Reddy from Kodangal against Revanth Reddy and Kancharla Bhupal Reddy from Nalgonda against Komatireddy Venkat Reddy.
According to sources, these three ‘marked men’ will face an uphill task. “A lot of work is being done at the ground level to win more support for TRS in these seats. The effort and time spent here is more than in other constituencies,” said TRS sources. There is a reason why KCR is keen to defeat the trio. They have been vociferous in the assembly in their opposition to the government. Komatireddy Venkat Reddy and Sampath Kumar were expelled from the assembly in March this year, leading to a legal battle.
Revanth won Kondangal in 2009 and 2014 as a TDP candidate. In 2014, he defeated TRS’s Gurunath Reddy by more than 14,614 votes. In Nalgonda, Komatireddy Venkatreddy won by 10,547 votes with TRS in third place.
Sampath defeated TDP’s V M Abraham by 6,730 votes in Alampur and TRS was in third place. Now Abraham is the TRS candidate. Having studied the winning margins, down to booth level, TRS has taken measures to win over some TDP and Congress cadre. Some top leaders have been given the task of defeating the three. “The margins are not too big. The government’s popularity is at its peak. We are certain the trio will be defeated,” a TRS leader said.
Since KCR already has a broad strategy in place to see the victory of TRS in the three constituencies, he chose to announce candidates from the three seats much in advance, sources said. #KhabarLive
