Over 1000 applicants for 119 seats shows poll trend in Telangana, says Congress

AICC in-charge of Telangana Manikrao Thakre told ETV Bharat that the party has received 1,009 applications for 119 seats even when it fixed an application fee of Rs 50,000 per person for the general category and Rs 25,000 per person for the SC and ST aspirants. -- Reports Amit Agnihotri.

New Delhi: The Congress on Wednesday said the party has received a good response from ticket seekers in Telangana where over 1,000 persons have applied for the 119 assembly seats.

“We have received good responses from the ticket seekers. We have received 1,009 applications for the 119 assembly seats. There are around 15 candidates each on some of the seats while many have around 6. This shows the trend in the state,” AICC in-charge of Telangana Manikrao Thakre told ETV Bharat.

According to the AICC functionary, the party received such a good response even when it fixed an application fee of Rs 50,000 per person for the general category and Rs 25,000 per person for the SC and ST aspirants. He denied the charge that the party had charged an application fee to fill its coffers.

“The party had charged around Rs 2 Lakh per application in the recent Karnataka assembly polls. We reduced the amount in Telangana. The idea was to ensure that only the serious aspirants applied for a ticket. A concession was given to the persons from reserved categories. I can’t give a figure but the fee collected through the applications will be available for the use of the state unit like for campaigning,” said Thakre.

The AICC functionary said the party has conducted several surveys recently and a vigorous exercise will now be undertaken to crosscheck the background of the applicants, including the ideological factor, to ensure that the best candidate is selected.

“We have to defeat the BRS. Hence, the winnability factor will be on top during ticket finalization. Besides, the caste equations will have to be balanced. We want to field many OBC candidates this time. Also, younger faces and women will get better representation. As announced earlier, we want to release the first list of candidates in September," said Thakre.

The AICC functionary said that a rush of ticket seekers shows that the social welfare guarantees announced by the party so far are having an impact on the ground, especially the ones listed for the Dalits by party president Mallikarjun Kharge on August 26. “The Dalits have been neglected in the state. Kharge’s speech sounded meaningful to them. Earlier, Priyanka ji announced a list of promises for the youth who are struggling for jobs. Over the coming days we will invite both Rahulji and Priyanka ji to announce more declarations,” said Thakre.

Once all the declarations are announced the state unit will conduct a unity bus yatra across the 119 seats to present a picture of togetherness. “Our PCC chief Revanth Reddy and CLP leader Bhatti Vikramark have conducted separate pad yatras across the state earlier. Now all senior leaders will be together. We want to project a collective leadership in the polls so that focus is not on a person but on the policies of the party,” said Thakre.

The AICC functionary claimed that the Congress had an edge over its rivals in the state and cited the recent joining of former minister and BJP leader Agam Chandrasekhar as an indicator. Earlier, said Thakre, former BRS leaders like Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy and Jupalli Krishna Rao have joined the grand old party. “The mood among the people is in our favour. More leaders will join us in the coming days,” Thakre added.