The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday released its first list of 52 candidates for the upcoming Telangana assembly elections 2023.
Three Lok Sabha MPs, including its former Telangana president Bandi Sanjay Kumar are named in the BJP's list for the November 30 state assembly polls.
The BJP has also given a ticket to T Raja Singh from his Goshamahal seat after revoking his suspension, effected last year for alleged insulting remarks towards Prophet Mohammad.
BJP's election committee head Etela Rajender has been fielded from Huzurabad, a seat the former BRS leader represents in the outgoing assembly.
Bandi Sanjay Kumar has been fielded from Karimnagar and two other MPs, Soyam Bapu Rao and Dharmapuri Arvind, from Boath and Koratla.
The BJP has four Lok Sabha MPs from the state. Union minister and its state president G Kishan Reddy is another MP whose name is not in the first list.
In the list of 52, BJP gave tickets to 12 women contestants.
Telangana BJP Candidate List 2023
The BJP will release the 'second list' of the candidates after the Dasara festival, state party president G Kishan Reddy said on Sunday.
Addressing a press conference in Hyderabad, Reddy said Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will campaign for the party in the poll-bound state towards the month end.
"The BJP's first list of 52 candidates has been released and the central election committee will announce the second list after Dasara", he said, adding the poll campaign of the party will be intensified after Dasara.
Amit Shah will be visiting the state on October 27 while Yogi Adityanath will be coming in the last week of October, Reddy said.
Amit Shah launched the BJP's poll campaign by addressing a public meeting at Adilabad and a 'professionals and intellectuals meeting' in the city on October 10.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and other union ministers, including Piyush Goyal, Smriti Irani and Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, have addressed BJP campaign rallies in different parts of the state recently.
The BJP is trying hard to emerge as the main challenger to the ruling BRS with the Congress also putting up a strong fight.
(With PTI inputs)
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