Congress changes Rangareddy candidate at eleventh hour

HYDERABAD: The Congress party made a last-minute change to its list of candidates for the upcoming byelections to three Local Authorities’ Constituencies to the Legislative Council.

After delaying the initial announcement of names for a long time, on Tuesday, the party said it would not field Uday Mohan Reddy from Rangareddy and instead go with Kommuri Pratap Reddy.  The party believes Pratap Reddy will be a tougher opponent to TRS’ Patnam Mahender Reddy, a former minister who lost his seat in the Assembly elections in December 2018. Pratap Reddy owns several educational institutions in the State.

Uday Mohan Reddy is a close confidant of Chevella MP Konda Vishweshwar Reddy, while Pratap Reddy has been a former legislator. The other two candidates, Nalgonda’s Komatireddy Lakshmi (wife of Munugode MLA K Rajagopal Reddy) and Warangal’s Venkatram Reddy, will remain in the fray.