Telangana Rashtra Samiti has opted for a new face as its candidate for the Warangal lok Sabha by-election while Congress has chosen a veteran as its candidate.
Pasunuri Dayakar, a grass-root party worker and the sculptor of the famous “Telangana Talli” (Goddess Telagnana) statue will contest the by-election as the TRS candidate, the party president and Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao announced.
Former member of Parliament Sricilla Rajaiah will be the Congress candidate. Congress general secretary Janardhan Dwivedi in New Delhi announced his name on Saturday. Party decided in favour of Rajaiah after another former MP G Vivek refused to contest.
However the TDP-BJP alliance was yet to finalise the name of its nominee as intense behind the scene lobbying was on in the BJP. The local BJP leaders were exerting pressure on the party leadership that one of them should be the candidate. But the party was looking for a strong and winnable candidate.
Chandrashekar Rao held a meeting on Saturday with all the TRS leaders from Warangal district to chalk out the strategy and plan of action for the by elections. Addressing the meeting KCR urged the party leaders to remain united and work hard to ensure Dayakar’s win. He said he was happy to nominate Dayakar as a candidate as he came up from the grass root and was a loyal solider of the party. “This shows that sooner or later the loyal party workers will get a chance”, he said.
48-year-old Dayakar’s name was finalised after considering several other contenders including Ravi Kumar of Telangana Advocates Joint Action Committee and the relatives of senior party leaders including the daughter of deputy Chief Miniser Kadiam Srihari and wife of former deputy Chief Minister K Rajaiah.
Kadiam Sirhari was elected from Warangal lok Sabha constituency last year on TRS ticket but he later resigned from parliament to opt for the State Cabinet. It necessitated the by-election.
Noting that Srihari had won the seat by a margin of 4,00,000 votes, KCR said that this time the victory margin should be bigger because of the performance and the pro poor policies of the TRS Government.
Thanking the Chief Minister for choosing him as the candidate Dayakar said that while other parties were selling their tickets for crores of rupees, the TRS was the only party to given an opportunity to an ordinary person like him.
Dayakar, a graduate from the College of Fine Arts, Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Hyderabad had actively participated in the struggle for Telangana State and served as the district youth president and district general secretary of TRS in Warangal.
Meanwhile the TRS got a shot in the arm in Warangal district with the Telugu Desam member of Rajya Sabha G Sudha Rani along with hundreds of supporters formally joining the TRS. Sudha Rani who came in a big convoy of supporters from Warangal was welcomed in to the party ranks by the Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao.