Senior Congress leader and former minister T. Jeevan Reddy is planning to contest from the Karimnagar Graduates constituency in the Legislative Council elections scheduled to be held soon.
Starting his political career as panchayat samithi president in 1981, he was first elected as legislator from Jagtial Assembly segment on Telugu Desam Party (TDP) ticket and became minister for Excise. Later, he joined the Congress and won the 1989, 1996, 1999, 2004 and 2014 elections. He also contested from the Karimnagar Parliament constituency during the 2006 and 2008 by-polls against Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) president K. Chandrasekhar Rao and lost.
Recently, he lost the 2018 Assembly elections to TRS candidate and doctor-turned politician M. Sanjay Kumar. Now, with the Legislative Council elections round the corner and no Congress candidate evincing much interest, Mr. Reddy’s name is being short-listed by the district party leaders citing his seniority and ability to raise issues in the Legislative Council if elected.
Big electorate
The Karimnagar Graduates constituency comprises of integrated Karimnagar, Adilabad, Nizamabad and Medak districts. Incidentally, the integrated Karimnagar district has the highest number of graduate voters, and all the parties are getting ready to lure them.
Though there are several contestants vying for the TRS ticket from here, Congress is proposing the candidature of Mr. Reddy so far. The party is banking on the developmental works taken by him as the minister in the district, such as conversion of Rajiv Rahadaari into a four-lane road to reduce accidents.
Congress is also claiming that Mr. Reddy was instrumental in sanctioning the first JNTU college at Kondagattu, Satavahana University in Karimnagar and National Academy of Construction (NAC) in Jagtial and other achievements such as Agriculture and Veterinary Colleges and polytechnic, among others.