2 Ex-MPs, 1 ex-MLA among 4 fielded by Cong for LS polls in Telangana

The Congress on Friday announced the names of four candidates, including two former MPs and a former MLA, for contesting the upcoming Lok Sabha elections from Telangana. Telangana has a total of 17 seats in the Lok Sabha, with the Congress hoping to capitalise on an assembly election win earlier this year, the BRS hoping to make up lost ground, and the BJP pushing to make further inroads. In 2019, the BRS won 9 seats, the Congress 3, the BRS 4 seats, with the AIMIM winning the one other seat.
The two former MPs are: Suresh Kumar Shetkar from Zaheerabad and Porika Balaram Naik from Mahabubabad (ST) parliamentary constituencies. Former MLA from Kalwakurthy assembly constituency Challa Vamsichand Reddy has been named as Congress candidate for Mahabubnagar Lok Sabha constituency.
Besides, the party named Kunduru Raghuveer Reddy, son of veteran Congress leader K Jana Reddy, as the candidate from Nalgonda parliamentary constituency.
The BRS currently holds the Zaheerabad, Mahabubabad and Mahbubnagar seats, while the former state Congress president Uttam Reddy had won Nalgona in 2019, but resigned after he fought and won the 2024 assembly elections, and is a sitting minister in the Revanth Reddy cabinet.
Initially, the Central Election Committee of the AICC put the name of Vamsichand Reddy on hold, though PCC president and Telangana chief minister A Revanth Reddy publicly announced his name for the Mahabubnagar Lok Sabha seat.