Hyderabad: Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) on Monday announced that Nomula Bagath Kumar will be its candidate for April 17 by-election to the Nagarjuna Sagar Assembly seat.
He is the son of late MLA Nomula Narsimhaiah, whose death in December last year, led to the by-election.
Rao handed over B-form to the young leader, who will file his nomination on Tuesday. The TRS chief also handed over a cheque of Rs 28 lakh to him for campaigning expenses.
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The ruling party announced the candidate a day before the last date for filing of nominations. The party chief decided after holding consultations with the party leaders from the Nalgonda district and after taking into account the outcome of five surveys that the party conducted this month.
TRS leader Koti Reddy was also a strong contender for the ticket. The TRS chief, however, assured him that he will be made a member of the Legislative Council.
Speaking on the occasion, Bagath thanked Chandrasekhar Rao for reposing faith in him and fielding him from Nagarjuna Sagar constituency represented by his father.
Bagath Kumar said ever since his father joined the TRS, Chandrasekhar Rao gave him suitable positions in the party. He said it was because of the KCR government's policies that his father won the seat in the 2018 elections.
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He exuded confidence that people will elect him in the by-election which was necessitated by his father's death. He said he was happy to get the opportunity as the successor of his father.
Bagath Kumar contended that the constituency has 1.5 lakh beneficiaries of various government schemes. He claimed that there was no growth for BJP in the constituency since the 2018 elections.
In 2018, Nomula Narsimhaiah had defeated his nearest rival Jana Reddy of Congress by a margin of 7,771 votes. While Narsimhaiah polled 83,655 votes, Jana Reddy secured 75,884 votes. Niveditha Reddy of BJP could get only 2,675 votes.
Congress has once again fielded veteran leader Jana Reddy. BJP is likely to officially announce its candidate later in the day but Niveditha Reddy last week filed the nomination as the BJP candidate without waiting for the party's announcement.
(With agency inputs)
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