Telangana Assembly Election: BJP has announced 52 candidates for Telangana Assembly elections. BJP has again fielded MLA T Raja Singh, who made controversial statements on Prophet Mohammed. He will again contest elections from Goshamahal seat. The party had earlier canceled his suspension. He was suspended by the party in August last year and a case was also registered against him by the police for alleged derogatory remarks against Prophet Muhammad.
In its first list of candidates, the party has given tickets to three MPs, which include Arvind Dharmapuri, Soyam Bapu Rao, Bandi Sanjay Kumar. BJP is contesting elections in Telangana in alliance with JSP. JSP chief Pawan Kalyan had sought seats in urban areas, but Kishan Reddy and MP Laxman suggested that the JSP field its candidates in rural areas, especially in constituencies where Kamma voters hold significant influence.
These seats came to JSP's accountJSP is believed to have been given seats in Vaira, Madhira, Khammam, Kothagudem, Aswaraopet, Palair, Sathupalli, Yellandhu, Kukatpally, Nakrekal, Kodad and Palakurthi under the seat-sharing arrangement with BJP. In the upcoming elections, BJP State Election Management Committee Chairman Etela Rajender will contest from both Gajwel and Huzurabad constituencies. Etela Rajender had already announced that apart from his Huzurabad seat, he would also contest against KCR. KCR himself is contesting elections from two seats this time. He is also contesting from the existing seat Gajwel and Kamareddy seat. Karimnagar MP and BJP general secretary Bandi Sanjay will also contest elections from Karimnagar assembly constituency.
12 women candidates in BJP's first listThere are also 12 women candidates in the first list of BJP, who have been selected for major constituencies. Former TDP MLA Annapurnamma has been elected from Balkonda constituency. Chandupatala Keerthi Reddy, daughter-in-law of senior BJP leader Chandupatala Janga Reddy, is the candidate from Bhupalpally. Prominent BJP leaders including state president G Kishan Reddy, party's state election in-charge Prakash Javadekar and BJP Telangana in-charge Sunil Bansal have also spoken on phone to congratulate the selected candidates. These candidates have been asked to participate in election campaigning in their respective areas.