Cong releases first list of 65 candidates for Dec 7 Telangana Assembly polls

The Congress Monday night released its first list of 65 candidates for the December 7 Telangana Assembly polls, with state party chief N Uttam Kumar Reddy to contest from the Huzurnagar constituency.

The list was released after a marathon meeting of the party's Central Election Committee (CEC) chaired by party president Rahul Gandhi.

All state Congress leaders were present at the meeting.

The Congress is seeking to upstage K Chandrashekar Rao-led Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) in the southern state.

The list was released late at night by CEC General Secretary Mukul Wasnik.

The Congress is seeking to have an electoral understanding on various seats with Chandrababu Naidu's Telugu Desam Party (TDP), which was an ally of the ruling NDA, had walked out of the ruling alliance some time ago over the issue of the Centre not granting special status to Andhra Pradesh.

Naidu is now meeting various opposition leaders and is seeking to be a part of a united front of various parties to defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).