Telangana polls: BRS to announce first list of candidates soon

Hyderabad, Aug 18 (IANS) Telangana's ruling party Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) is likely to announce the first list of candidates for coming Assembly elections in a day or two. 

BRS president and Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao is reported to have finalised the candidates for almost all the seats and is waiting for an auspicious time to announce the same. 

The first list is likely to contain candidates for 87 seats. 

Names for remaining 32 seats will be declared later. 

Elections for 119-member Assembly are due to be held in November-December. 

As the Sravana Masam commenced on Friday (August 18), KCR is likely to announce the list of candidates on August 19 or 20. KCR is learnt to have decided candidates for 112 seats. 

According to party sources, 95 per cent of the sitting legislators will be fielded again. The BRS chief is likely to make changes only in 10-12 constituencies. 

Sitting MLAs in two constituencies in the erstwhile Adilabad district and one each in Medak, Warangal, Karimnagar and Rangareddy may be denied tickets. 

A member of the Legislative Council and a chairperson of a Zilla Parishad are likely to be fielded by the party. 

The BRS has a strength of 104 in the 119-member state Assembly. As many as 14 MLAs from Congress, and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) had joined the ruling party after the 2018 polls. 

As a few constituencies are witnessing infighting due to opposition to the sitting MLAs from within the party ranks and presence of multiple aspirants for tickets, KCR is likely to declare candidates for such segments at a later date. 

Speaking in the state Assembly on August 5, KCR had exuded confidence that the BRS will come back to power with seven to eight seats more than it got in the last elections. 

The announcement of the first list of candidates may come before KCR's visit to Suryapet district on August 20 to inaugurate new buildings for the district collectorate and Superintendent of Police office. 

He is also scheduled to inaugurate the BRS office and address a public meeting. 

Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), as the BRS was earlier known, had formed the first government in the newly created Telangana state in 2014 after winning 63 seats.

It had retained power in 2018 when KCR advanced the elections by a few months to delink with the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. KCR, whose party won 88 seats to retain power, is confident of a hat-trick. 

If BRS retains power, he will be the first leader in south India to become chief minister for a third consecutive term. 

In 2018, KCR had announced candidates for 105 constituencies in one go. 

This time, he is planning to announce 87 names in the first list so that if anybody misses out, he can be accommodated in the subsequent list. The BRS chief is likely to contest once again from Gajwel in Siddipet district.