The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) has revealed its initial list of candidates for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections in Telangana, retaining two sitting members and introducing two new faces. BRS President K Chandrasekhar Rao announced the names of four candidates for the Lok Sabha polls. The list includes Nama Nageswara Rao for Khammam, B Vinod Kumar for Karimnagar, Maloth Kavitha for Mahabubabad, and Koppula Eshwar for Peddapalli, news agency PTI reported.
Nama Nageswara Rao and Maloth Kavitha are existing members of the Lok Sabha seeking re-election. Vinod Kumar, a former Lok Sabha member, has been nominated for Karimnagar, while Koppula Eshwar, a previous minister in the BRS government, will contest from Peddapalli.
The decision to nominate these candidates was made after consultations with key leaders from their respective parliamentary constituencies. The party aimed to reach a consensus on the candidate selection process.
"BRS chief KCR has announced the first list of BRS candidates who will contest in the 2024 parliamentary elections. As part of that, BRS candidates for 4 Lok Sabha seats have been finalized," as post on the party's X account read.
Vinod Kumar, who lost the 2019 election in Karimnagar, faces tough competition from BJP’s Bandi Sanjay Kumar, whose candidature has already been announced. Meanwhile, Koppula Eshwar, despite facing defeat in the recent Assembly elections, is set to contest against Peddapalli's current MP B. Venkatesh Netha, who switched allegiance from BRS to Congress last month.
BRS's Performance In Lok Sabha Election 2019
In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, BRS secured nine out of 17 seats in Telangana. However, recent developments have posed challenges as two BRS MPs, P. Ramulu from Nagarkurnool and B. B. Patil from Zahirabad, joined the BJP. This prompted the saffron party to field Patil as its candidate in Zahirabad and nominate Ramulu’s son, P. Bharat, from Nagarkurnool.