Telangana polls: BJP MLA Rajender to face off with CM KCR in Gajwel Assembly segment
In addition to Gajwel, Etala Rajender will also be contesting from Huzurabad, the constituency he currently represents.
As per the BJP's first list of candidates unveiled on Sunday, BJP legislator Etela Rajender is slated to contest against Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao in the Gajwel constituency during the upcoming assembly polls on November 30.
Three of the BJP’s sitting Lok Sabha members - Bandi Sanjay Kumar (former Telangana BJP chief and Karimnagar MP), Dharmapuri Arvind (Nizamabad MP) and Soyam Bapu Rao (Adilabad MP) will contest in the elections.
Sitting BJP legislator T Raja Singh, whose suspension was revoked, will contest from the Goshamahal segment in the city, his present constituency.
"I express my heartfelt gratitude to the BJP Leadership for nominating me as the Bharatiya Janata Party's candidate in the #Goshamahal Constituency for the upcoming 2023 legislative assembly election," Singh said in a message posted on "X".
Besides Gajwel, Etela Rajender will also contest from Huzurabad, which he is representing now.
Rajender had earlier indicated that if the party’s senior leadership permits, he will take on KCR in Gajwel, which is currently represented by the BRS supremo.
Sanjay Kumar is fielded from Karimnagar while two other MPs, Soyam Bapu Rao and Dharmapuri Arvind, are from Boath and Koratla respectively.
Rani Rudrama Reddy was fielded against BRS working president and KCR’s son KT Rama Rao in Sircilla.
According to the BJP list, K Venkata Ramana Reddy will slug it out with the CM in Kamareddy constituency.
KCR will contest from two segments in the upcoming polls - Gajwel and Kamareddy assembly constituencies.
In the list of 52, BJP gave tickets to 12 women contestants.
On the party’s strategy of fielding three MPs for assembly polls, senior BJP leader N Ramchander Rao said the party looked into the potentiality of the candidates.
"Basically, the BJP’s idea is to have potential candidates so that the chances of winning are more and also more representation in the assembly," the BJP leader told PTI.
He further said the party would not like to take chances by fielding new faces.
(With agency inputs)
