Hyderabad, Feb, 19: The Telangana Rashtra Samithi announced its candidates for the ensuing by-elections to seven Assembly seats here on Sunday.

Announcing candidates for five of the six seats in the Telangana region, the party said that it has decided not to field its candidate against Dr Nagam Janardhan Reddy in Nagar Kurnool as he quit both the TDP and his Assembly seat for the sake of Telangana. Nagam is seeking re-election there.

The party announced Jupalli Krishna Rao as TRS candidate for Kollapur in Mahbubnagar district, Jogu Ramanna for Adilabad, T Rajaiah for Station Ghanapur (Warangal district), Syed Ibrahim for Mahbubnagar and Gampa Govardhan for Kamareddy (Nizamabad district).

Of the candidates announced by the TRS, except Syed Ibrahim, all others are members, who had resigned to mount pressure on the government on Telangana. While Jupalli Krishna Rao had quit his cabinet post and Congress party to join the TRS, Gampa Govardhan and Jogu Ramanna quit the TDP and their seats to join the TRS. Station Ghanapur MLA Rajaiah also quit the Congress and joined the TRS.

Apart from these seats in Telangana, by-election would also be held in Kovvuru in Nellore district where TDP member Nallapureddy Prasanna Kumar Reddy has resigned, differing with TDP supremo’s policies and joined the YSR Congress. He is the likely candidate of the YSR Congress, which would be facing election for an Assembly seat for the first time after the Pulivendula by-election in which Dr Rajasekhara Reddy’s wife Vijayamma trounced Y S Vivekananda Reddy, Congress candidate and YSR’s brother.

Congress has already zeroed in on the candidates for the three seats in Mahbubnagar district. The party has tentatively decided to field Vijaya Lakshmi from Mahbubnagar, Damodar Reddy from Nagar Kurnool and Vishnuvardhan Reddy from Kollapur.

Vijaya Lakshmi is the wife of Independent MLA Rajeswar Reddy, whose death caused the by-election. Rajaiah is the sitting MLA, who had quit the Congress and the Assembly seat and joined the TRS as a protest against the ruling party’s stand on Telangana. He would be seeking re-election from Station Ghanapur as the TRS candidate in the by-election scheduled for March 18.