BRS Chief and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Monday announced the candidate list for 115 seats for the upcoming assembly polls on Monday and said he will contest from Gajwel and Kamareddy constituencies.

Providing further insights into the party’s strategies for the approaching elections, the chief minister said that the incumbent ministers would maintain their current seats. “Ninety-five per cent of MLAs will retain seats,” he said.

BRS Working President KT Rama Rao will be seeking re-election from Sircilla, while Harish Rao is set to do the same from Siddipet.

Among the notable developments, seven new faces are set to join the electoral fray as seven sitting MLAs have been dropped.

However, the candidates for four seats, namely Nampally, Goshamahal, Jangaon and Narsapur, are yet to be officially declared.

KCR has announced that there will be no alliance with any party or opposition front. The chief minister stated that the focus will also be on the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. “There is a need for an alternative approach,” he added.

However, he asserted that the camaraderie between BRS and Hyderabad Lok Sabha MP Asaduddin Owaisi-led AIMIM would continue. “AIMIM party is our friendly party and our friendship will continue even in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections,” KCR said.

Expressing confidence, the party chief said, “BRS will win between 95-105 seats out of the total of 119 in the upcoming assembly polls.”

On his decision to contest from two seats, KCR said, “I am contesting from the two seats according to a decision taken by the party. The local MLA requested me to contest from Kamareddy. Shifting from one constituency to the other is a regular phenomenon for me where in the past I contested from Karimnagar, Mahabubabad, and Siddipet and even now contesting from Gajwel and Kamareddy. Wherever I contest from, I won the seat with a huge majority.”

KCR said the BRS will announce the party manifesto at a massive rally scheduled at Warangal on October 16.

About his role in national politics, he said, “I will become free after the Assembly elections are over and then the people of the country will witness what KCR can do in national politics.”

Shortly after the announcement, BRS MLC K Kavitha, who is the daughter of Chandrasekhar Rao, in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, said the list reflected the people’s faith in the chief minister’s leadership and the BRS’s governance.

“Our leader KCR Garu announced 115 exceptional candidates for the forthcoming Assembly elections out of 119 seats. It truly is a testament to the people’s faith in CM KCR Garu’s courageous leadership and the impactful governance of the @BRSparty. We humbly seek the blessings of people of Telangana!!,” the post read.

I congratulate all the nominees of the @BRSparty for ensuing assembly electionsAlso thank the Hon’ble Party President Sri KCR Garu for renominating me as a candidate from Siricilla 🙏 Disappointments are to be taken in stride in public life. Unfortunately some very deserving,… — KTR (@KTRBRS) August 21, 2023

Telangana Minister KT Rama Rao in a post congratulated all the nominees and thanked the chief minister for renominating him as a candidate from Siricilla. “Disappointments are to be taken in stride in public life. Unfortunately some very deserving, capable leaders like @Krishank_BRS & a few others could not be accommodated. Will ensure he and some others who have been denied an opportunity to contest get their chance In another form to serve the people,” he said.

With the Legislative Assembly elections just a few months away, prominent figures like Union Home Minister Amit Shah and AICC President Mallikarjun Kharge are anticipated to visit Telangana this month. Shah is set to address a public gathering in Khammam on August 27, as per BJP sources.

Similarly, Kharge is slated to unveil the party’s ‘SC, ST Declaration’ during a public meeting near Chevella on August 26. The ‘SC, ST Declaration’ marks Congress’s third significant proclamation, following Rahul Gandhi’s ‘farmers’ declaration’ in Warangal last year and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s youth declaration in Hyderabad this May.

Notably, Congress in Telangana is contemplating an invitation for top leader Sonia Gandhi to visit the state in September.