Political manipulations and intra-party dissent have thrown up an interesting picture of Malakajgiri Assembly constituency, where candidates of all the three major political parties are keeping their fingers crossed given the fast changing political situation even as the nominations end today.
The sitting MLA from Congress, Akula Rajender, created a flutter by joining the TRS only to return within a couple of days. He was not considered by the TRS and by the time he returned, the Congress had already finalised a new name Nandikanti Sreedhar. Mr. Rajender blamed Union Minister and sitting MP from Malkajgiri Parliamentary constituency Sarve Satyanaranaya for hatching a conspiracy to deny the party ticket to him.
Congress nominee Nandikanti Sreedhar is a close follower of Mr. Satyanarayana and was a co-opted member of the Greater Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad (GHMC) council.
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The Union Minister apparently used his proximity with Ms. Sonia Gandhi to bring in Sreedhar. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) successfully secured the seat in its alliance discussions with Telugu Desam Party (TDP). Senior Advocate and Member of Bar Council of India, N. Ramachadra Rao’s name cropped up and he is almost confirmed as the BJP-TDP nominee.
However, party sources said that BJP State president G. Kishan Reddy is bargaining with the TDP to allot LB Nagar or some other constituency in lieu of Malkajgiri seat. Mr. Reddy is said to be interested in allotting the party ticket to a friend in another constituency and wants to sacrifice Malkajigiri much to the chagrin of Mr. Ramachandra Rao.
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Mr. Rao, however, is confident of romping home with considerable majority if the ticket is finalised to BJP.
TRS candidate C. Kanaka Reddy contested from Praja Rajyam in the last elections. Though his ticket is confirmed as of now, the entry of TDP leader Mainampalli Hanumantha Rao into TRS on Tuesday night is giving him some tense moments.
In fact, Mr. Hanumantha Rao, a sitting MLA from Medak, has been nurturing Malkajgiri for the last one year in the hope of getting nomination from the TDP.
Malkajgiri is a new Assembly constituency that was created only in 2009 elections.
Mr. Rajender, a grass roots level activist, emerged victorious polling 56,629 votes over Kanaka Reddy of PRP, who secured 47,434 votes. V. Sharada Mahesh, a woman nominee of Telugu Desam — which had an alliance with TRS — secured 47,326 votes. Lok Satta and BJP candidates got 20,024 and 11,062 votes respectively.