After a lot of dilly-dallying and calculating various caste equations, Telangana Rashtra Samithi president and chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Wednesday picked up a candidate from Backward Classes to fight against former health minister Eatala Rajender in Huzurabad assembly constituency.
TRS Vidyarthi (TRS student wing) state president Gellu Srinivas Yadav would be the party candidate for the ensuing by-elections to Huzurabad assembly seat, most likely to be held in the September or first week of October.
Interestingly, Srinivas Yadav was a close follower of Eatala Rajender till the latter quit the TRS to join the BJP after his differences with KCR.
Yadav had taken active part in the election campaign for Rajender in all the previous elections from Huzurabad.
Yadav has been a student leader in the party since 2003.
He was the TRSV president at Osmania University in 2010, when the separate statehood movement was at its peak.
He was appointed as the state president of TRSV in 2017.
Several names came up for the consideration for a suitable candidate to fight against Rajender in Huzurabad.
Former Congress leader Padi Kaushik Reddy claimed he had been selected as the TRS candidate, even before he shifted his loyalties.
But KCR chose to nominate him as an MLC under Governor’s quota.
Another Congress leader Swargam Ravi, who hails from Rajender’s own village Kamalapur, was defected to the TRS hoping that he would get the TRS ticket.
The names of former minister E Peddi Reddy, who recently defected from the BJP and another former minister Muddasani Damodar Reddy’s son Kashyap Reddy were also in the race.
At one stage, there was also a talk that KCR would field a Dalit candidate in Huzurabad, as he was planning to launch Dalit Bandhu from the constituency.
But finally, KCR chose a party loyalist Srinivas Yadav, who is also a local and has strong support of the BCs.
Apparently, KCR picked up Yadav to see that the BC votes in Huzurabad, which are presently with Eatala, are vertically split which would ultimately benefit the TRS.
So, it will be an interesting battle in Huzurabad.