Synopsis
Actor-politician Vijayashanthi is among three candidates declared by the Congress party for the Telangana Legislative Council elections. This announcement highlights the party's strategy and alliance dynamics as they prepare for the upcoming polls on March 20.Key Takeaways
- Vijayashanthi and Addanki Dayakar are Congress candidates.
- The elections are set for March 20.
- Congress holds 65 seats in the Assembly.
- Vijayashanthi has a significant political history.
- The party allocates a seat to CPI.
Hyderabad, March 9 (NationPress) The Congress party has announced that actor-politician Vijayashanthi and Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) general secretary Addanki Dayakar are among three candidates nominated for the upcoming biennial elections to the Legislative Council from the MLAs’ quota.
The third candidate is Kethavath Shankar Naik, who serves as the District Congress Committee president in Nalgonda.
The candidatures of these three leaders have been sanctioned by AICC President Mallikarjun Kharge. Additionally, the party has chosen to reserve one seat for its ally, the Communist Party of India (CPI).
On March 20, members of the State Legislative Assembly will cast their votes to elect five representatives to the Legislative Council.
This election is necessitated by the retirement of four MLCs from the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), including Mallesham Yegge, who transitioned to Congress from BRS last year, and Mirza Riyazul Hassan Effendi of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM).
Currently, Congress holds 65 seats in the 119-member Assembly and benefits from the backing of 10 BRS MLAs who defected last year. Its ally, CPI, has one MLA, while friendly party AIMIM holds seven seats.
The BRS, which comprises 28 members, is expected to put forth one candidate.
The Congress party has acknowledged Vijayashanthi, who left her position as a national executive member of the BJP to join Congress shortly before the 2023 Assembly elections.
Known as ‘Lady Amitabh’ for her notable action roles in Telugu cinema, she first joined the BJP in 1997 and held the role of general secretary in the party’s women’s wing.
In 2005, she departed from the BJP to establish a separate entity, Talli Telangana, advocating for statehood for Telangana.
Later, she merged Talli Telangana with TRS (now BRS) and won a seat in the Lok Sabha from the Medak constituency in 2009.
In August 2013, shortly before the establishment of the Telangana state, TRS suspended Vijayashanthi for actions deemed anti-party.
She subsequently joined the Congress party and ran unsuccessfully for the Medak Assembly seat in the 2014 elections.
After a period of inactivity spanning four years, Vijayashanthi re-engaged with Congress in 2017, earning the title of star campaigner for the party during the 2018 Assembly elections. Following the party's losses, she receded from active politics and returned to the BJP in 2020.
With a film career lasting nearly four decades, Vijayashanthi has appeared in over 180 films across various languages including Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, and Hindi.
