Hyderabad: Former PCC President Ponnala Laxmaiah said today he would contest from his Jangaon Assembly seat in the December 7 Assembly elections. Noting that he has been contesting from the seat since the last 35 years, Laxmaiah said he was going to file his nomination papers from the same seat for the eight consecutive term.
He thanked the people of Jangaon for giving him a lot of love in his political life. He also made it clear that he would spend his entire remaining life with the people of his constituency. Commenting on the recent controversy over his seat, Laxmaiah said that the announcement of his name was delayed due to the seat sharing arrangement with grand alliance partners in the state.
He noted that he had given B-forms to 119 assembly seats during his term as the PCC President. The Congress had allocated the seat to its alliance partner TJS as part its seat sharing arrangement. This has prompted the TJS president to mull over the idea of contesting in the upcoming elections from the Jangaon seat. However, sensing trouble over his seat, Laxmaiah called on Congress president Rahul Gandhi and convinced to allot the seat to him instead of leaving it to the TJS party. Following this meeting, Rahul met with the TJS president Kodandaram personaly and urged him to leave the seat to the Congress party while promising one Rajya Sabha and an MLC seat to the TJS. This has prompted Kodandaram to bow out of the race to contest from the Jangaon seat and paved the way for the allocation of the seat to Laxmaiah.
[source_without_link]NSS[/source_without_link]