Has firebrand former minister and Telangana Congress leader Konda Surekha been ruled out of the contest from the by-election to Huzurabad assembly seat in Karimnagar district?
The answer is yes, if the applications received by the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) from various aspirants for the party ticket to contest Huzurabad by-poll, are any indication.
As many as 18 candidates have applied for the Congress party ticket by Sunday evening, the deadline for receiving applications from the aspirants. Of them, 11 aspirants are local party workers from Huzurabad and the remaining seven are non-locals.
However, the list of aspirants does not contain the name of Konda Surekha, whose name was set to have been sent to the high command for clearance and also Karimnagar district Congress Committee president Kavvampalli Satyanarayana.
Apparently, Surekha did not evince interest in submitting a formal application, as she thought it is an insult to her to do so after the PCC leadership held talks with her and convinced her to contest the elections.
However, the PCC took up this entire exercise of selecting candidates from among the applicants so as to create an impression that it is following a democratic process in the selection of the candidate. It said it would select the best among the applicants.
Now, the PCC in a state of dilemma. It has to select one among the 18 aspirants for the Huzurabad by-poll, but they are all said to be non-serious candidates without money and muscle power, who cannot match Bharatiya Janata Party and the Telangana Rashtra Samithi.
In that case, the PCC has to ignore the list and recommend the name of Surekha to the high command for finalising her candidature.
In that case, it gets a bad name of enacting a farcical drama in the name of democratic process and that it was all to make money in the name of application fee of Rs 5,000 each.
It is learnt the PCC wants to extend the deadline for applying for the party ticket once again to get more response. The PCC leadership might convince Surekha to submit a formal application so that she can be finalised.
While former minister Eatala Rajender has already been finalised as the BJP candidate, the TRS leadership recently announced the candidature of youth leader Gellu Srinivas Yadav to fight the by-elections.