The Telangana Congress on Sunday released its first list of 55 candidates for the poll-bound state, fielding state Congress president Revanth Reddy from the Kodangal seat.
The Congress list of candidates for Telangana is dominated by the land-owning, influential Reddy community that dominates business and politics in the state having a stamp of state party president Revanth Reddy, who joined the party in 2017.
The Reddys in Telangana account for nearly 6% of the total four crore population and the decision to accord a higher number of seats is part of a decades-long trend that has helped the Congress consolidate power while handing them big majorities in election years.
After Reddy's, party leaders said that the Other Backward Castes would be the second biggest group to get about 20 tickets. About 10 seats have been reserved for the minorities in the old city with the women likely to get about 7-8 tickets, the same number given out by the ruling BRS as well. The Velamas community has been earmarked about 4-5 tickets and a handful to the Kammas, who could not be ignored being the arch rivals of the Reddys, may get tickets.
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