Congress names Azharuddin in 2nd list of 45 candidates for Telangana polls

New Delhi: The Congress on Friday released its second list of 45 candidates for the November 30 Telangana assembly elections, fielding former India cricket captain Mohammad Azharuddin from Jubilee Hills.

The party fielded former MP Madhu Goud Yakshi from Lal Bahadur Nagar, Ponnam Prabhakar from Husanabad, Kandi Srniwas Reddy from Adilabad, Tumla Nageshwar Rao from Khammam, K Raj Gopal Reddy from Munugode, according to the party list.

With this, the party has so far declared a total of 100 candidates for the Telangana assembly polls to be held on November 30. The state has 119 assembly constituencies.

Weeks before the Telangana assembly polls, Raj Gopal Reddy returned to the Congress fold earlier in the day, more than a year after quitting the grand old party to join the BJP.

In an interesting move, the party has fielded cricketer-turned-politician Azharuddin from Jubilee Hills. He has been an MP from Uttar Pradesh's Moradabad.

Earlier in the day, the Congress leadership deliberated upon the names of candidates for the Telangana assembly polls at a crucial meeting of the party's Central Election Committee here.

Chaired by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, the meeting was attended by former party chief Sonia Gandhi, besides members of the committee and Telangana leaders, including PCC chief A Revanth Reddy. The Congress had also held a meeting of the CEC for Telangana on Wednesday.

The Congress is seeking to replace the BRS government in the state.

In the earlier list, the party fielded Pradesh Congress chief Anumala Revanth Reddy from Kodangal assembly seat while CLP leader Bhatti Vikramarka Mallu has been fielded from Madhira-SC seat.

Revanth Reddy is currently the sitting Lok Sabha MP from Malkajgiri parliamentary constituency.