CJ REPORT: 'Blinking Future Of Vijaya Shanti in Telangana'

Ending suspense over former actress and Medak MP Vijaya Shanti’s re-nomination, Telangana Rashtra Sanithi (TRS) chief K Chandrasekhar Rao on Friday said she will contest the ensuing Lok Sabha elections along with him.

However, he did not specify the constituencies from which they will contest keeping the guessing game on though Vijaya Shanti was insisting that she would seek re-election from Medak constituency amidst reports that the leadership was planning to induct retired IAS officer K V Ramana Chary into the party and he would replace the former actress as TRS candidate in the next elections.

KCR asserted that his party would go it alone in the next elections and consider any alliance only after elections. The TRS decided to emerge as force to reckon with on its own without joining hands with any major political party which has been the habit of the party since its inception.
In all probability, the TRS chief, who looking for a safe seat will contest from Medak and Vijaya Shanti from either Nalgonda or Bhongir Lok Sabha constituencies.

“We will contest the Lok Sabha elections and emerge as victorious,” Chandrasekhar Rao, who chaired the party’s Politburo meeting at Telangana Bhavan, told reporters later. As usual, Vijaya Shanti was sitting next him at the media conference dispelling reports that differences surfaced between the two leaders.

Chandrasekhar Rao also said that the party would like to grow on its own and will think of joining hands with other parties after the declaration of results depending upon the situation. The party has set up the election committee under the leadership of former minister Nayani Narasimha Reddy to finalise candidates and their list will be released in the last week of May.

Vijaya Shanti, who launched Talli Telangana party in 2008, merged her outfit with the TRS on the condition that she would be given tocket to contest the Lok Sabha elections. While she won the elections in Medak district, the TRS lost all seats except one which the party contested at that time. The lone segment the party won was Siddipet where sitting MLA T Harish Rao retained the seat.

With the party in shambles and then chief minister Dr Y S Rajasekhara Reddy launching “Operation akarsh,” Vijaya Shanti planned to join the ruling Congress but stayed back after his sudden death in a chopper crash.

                                  (This Citizen Journalist Report was filed by V Ramesh Reddy in Hyderabad)