The forthcoming by-election to the Warangal Lok Sabha constituency is likely to witness a keen contest between the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) and the TDP-BJP combine.
The seat fell vacant following TRS MP Kadiyam Srihari’s resignation and his elevation as the Deputy Chief Minister of Telangana. Mr. Srihari won from the constituency with a majority of over 3.9 lakh votes over his nearest Congress rival Sircilla Rajaiah in the previous elections. The TRS has six MLAs out of the seven Assembly seats falling under Warangal Lok Sabha constituency with TDP’s E. Dayakar Rao being the lone representative of the combine from Palakurthi Assembly segment.
The contest in the election slated for November 21 is likely to be between the ruling party’s nominee P. Dayakar and P. Devaiah of the TDP-BJP combine. Though the Congress has announced the candidature of Mr. Rajaiah once again, the developments involving death of his daughter-in-law and three grandsons on the day of closure of nominations came as a dampener.
The Congress has rushed former MP Sarve Satyanarayana to file his nomination from the constituency, but analysts feel that the presence of Mr. Satyanarayana in the fray was unlikely to have any major impact in the election as he happens to be a non-local in the district.
“The developments in Mr. Rajaiah’s house are sure to hamper the Congress’ chances as it had sent negative signals among the voters. In the absence of a local leader, people are sure to look at the winning prospects of the other contestants and we have an edge here,” a senior BJP leader said.
While the TRS leadership had already nominated some of its senior leaders to canvass for the party candidate, the TDP and BJP are yet to take a full-fledged plunge into the campaign. The Telangana unit of the TDP sees an opportunity in the election as its leaders firmly believe that the incumbency factor would be a significant factor in the bypoll. “We are hopeful of significantly bringing down the margin of votes between the two parties, if not winning the seat, as there is a clear anti-incumbency against the Government,” a senior TTDP leader told The Hindu .
Nominations
A total of 38 nominations were filed for the Warangal Lok Sabha by-election on the last day on Wednesday.
