Hyderabad: Telangana Jana Samithi (TJS) president Prof. Kodandaram has bowed out of the Jangaon Assembly segment paving the way for allotting the seat to former PCC president Ponnala Laxmaiah, who has been contesting from the same seat for a long time. Prof. Kodandaram yielded to a request of Congress president Rahul Gandhi in the national capital.
During the meeting, Rahul reportedly asked Kodandaram to drop the idea to contest from the Jangaon seat and allow senior Congress leader Ponnala Laxmaiah to contest from the seat. Responding positively to the request made by the Congress party president, the TJS president decided to not contest from the seat in the December 7 Assembly elections.
According to party sources, Rahul Gandhi promised Kodandaram that he would give one MLC and one Rajya Sabha seat to the TJS in future. The decision of Kodandaram has also paved the way for the release of the third and the final list of Congress candidates in the State. AICC leader in-charge of Telangana State party affairs RC Kuntia said they would release the third list on Saturday. The third list is likely to have the names of 19 party candidates.
On the other hand, the Congress reportedly decided to field former MLA Marri Shashidhar Reddy from Sanathnagar Assembly seat. The party has initially decided to concede the seat to grand alliance partner TDP but it has now changed its mind and cleared the line for party senior Marri Shashidhar Reddy to contest from the same seat.
[source_without_link]NSS[/source_without_link]