Hyderabad: The Telangana Congress party changed its Ranga Reddy district MLC candidate at the eleventh hour on Tuesday. Uday Mohan Reddy whose name has been finalised earlier on Monday is now replaced by Kommuri Pratap Reddy, another aspirant for the same ticket.

Interestingly the change in the decision came after both Uday Mohan Reddy and Pratap Reddy went to the chairman of Legislative Council office in Hyderabad with the belief that the former would file his nomination. However, the Congress leadership in the State unit felt Pratap Reddy would be a better candidate to be fielded against TRS candidate and former minister Patnam Mahendar Reddy.

Both Pratap Reddy and Mohan Reddy had been in the race to be declared as Congress’ MLC candidate for Ranga Reddy. In fact, Mohan Reddy’s candidature along with Venkatram Reddy (Warangal) and Lakshmi Reddy (Nalgonda) was finalised on Monday with approval from the AICC President Rahul Gandhi.

The reason for the last-minute change in the name is yet to be known. However, there is a speculation that the decision was taken in order to give a tough fight to TRS candidate Patnam Mahendar Reddy, who was a former minister and locally popular face. The Congress party which is in a moribund state following its massive defeat in the Assembly elections in December wants to use the opportunity to make its presence felt.

Meanwhile, both Congress and TRS MLC candidates from Nalgonda, Ranga Reddy, and Warangal filed their nominations on Tuesday, the last day for filing nominations. These seats fell vacant after Patnam Narender Reddy (Ranga Reddy) and Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy (Nalgonda) resigned as MLCs to contest the Legislative Assembly polls in last December. On the other hand, Konda Murali (Warangal) too resigned from his MLC seat after he had switched his allegiance to Congress from TRS. The seats are to be filled under the local bodies’ quota.

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