Congress favours Konda Surekha for Huzurabad

Telangana Congress leadership is keen on fielding former minister Konda Surekha from Huzurabad constituency making it an all Backward Classes (BC) contest but the firebrand leader still has apprehensions over support from a section of top leaders in the party.

While the party committee on elections headed by former Deputy Chief Minister Damodar Rajanarsimha has finalised some names, including Konda Surekha, Kavvampalli Satyanarayana, Krishna Reddy and Komuraiah, in all likelihood Ms. Surekha’s name will be cleared once she gives her final approval. Kavvampalli Satyanarayana is another option if her candidature is not finalised.

Sources said that initially when the leadership approached her for the contest she evinced keen interest but expressed her apprehensions over total support from the Karimnagar district leaders, including the lone party MLA from the district D. Sreedhar Babu who represents the Manthani constituency. Ms. Surekha is from the neighbouring Warangal district.

TPCC president A. Revanth Reddy and others are of the opinion that she would be a strong candidate given her dynamism and also matches the stature of Mr. Rajender being a former minister herself and a firebrand politician. Her political base is in Parkal constituency, which is geographically closer to Huzurabad.

A senior leader, however, argued that the party is making efforts to retain their vote base in this election, which he feels is being fought on sentiment of Eatala Rajender, who resigned from the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and joined the BJP, and the money being pumped in by the ruling party through various schemes including Dalita Bandhu.

“We have few chances of winning but our vote base is still good and we want to retain that. Moreover, one should remember that Congress has not won from Huzurabad in the last two decades,” he said.

If Ms. Surekha finally agrees she would be seeking some assurance from the party on her future in Parkal and also another constituency to field her daughter. In fact, she walked out of the ruling TRS just before the 2018 Assembly elections over refusal of seat to her daughter. Her husband Konda Murali, an MLC then also joined the Congress.

If Ms. Surekha’s name is finalised the contest will be between three BC candidates belonging to three major communities. The TRS has announced its students’ wing president Gellu Srinivas Yadav while the BJP is likely to finalise Mr. Eatala Rajender, who comes from the Mudiraj community. Surekha is a Padmashali while her husband is Munnuru Kapu, another dominant community among the BC.