Telangana Assembly polls: Ex-deputy CM Thatikonda Rajaiah breaks down after KCR denies him BRS ticket. Video
Reportedly, Rajaiah has been denied the ticket in view of allegations of sexual harassment by a village sarpanch belonging to his own party.
Former deputy chief minister of Telangana Thatikonda Rajaiah on Tuesday broke down after he was denied a Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) ticket for the upcoming assembly elections in the state. Rajaiah is a sitting MLA from the Station Ghanpur constituency, however, BRS chief and Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao decided to field another senior leader Kadiyam Srihari this time.
Also read: Discontent brews among BRS MLAs over candidate list
According to reports, Rajaiah has been denied the ticket in view of allegations of sexual harassment by a village sarpanch belonging to his own party.
In a video posted by the news agency PTI, Rajaiah, who had been representing Station Ghanpur since 2009, can be seen kneeling and crying in front of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar's statue in his constituency. Addressing a group of supporters, Rajaiah said even after being denied the ticket, he would remain loyal to the party.
After the formation of Telangana in 2014, Rajaiah became one of the deputies to CM KCR, and was given the health portfolio. However, he was dropped from the Cabinet in 2015 following allegations of corruption in the health department. However, in 2018, he was given a party ticket from the same constituency.
BRS announces 1st list of candidates
KCR on Monday announced the 115 candidates of the 119 seats for the upcoming assembly elections scheduled later this year. While 29 are from the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities, 24 candidates belong to the OBC community, and three are from minorities. Overall, seven women candidates have been announced.
Retaining 95 percent of the sitting MLAs, KCR at a brief press conference at Telangana Bhavan said, “Today being the most auspicious day — Sravana Panchami, I have decided to release the list so that the candidates would go into the campaign mode in the right earnest.”
Also read: Denied ticket, BRS MLA defects to Congress
KCR will be contesting from two seats - Kamareddy and his present constituency Gajwel. His son and state’s information technology minister KT Rama Rao (popularly known as KTR) will contest from Sircilla, while his nephew T Harish Rao has been fielded from Siddipet. Deputy speaker of the Telangana assembly T Padma Rao has been fielded to fight from Secunderabad.
