Two first timers to electoral politics will clash swords with veteran Congress leader K. Jana Reddy in the byelection to Nagarjunasagar Assembly constituency on April 17.
By fielding Nomula Bhagat Kumar, TRS president and Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has overlooked the chances of at least four seniors in the party in the quest to win the polls on sympathy wave. Mr. Bhagat’s father Narasimhaiah died in December, necessitating the election.
On the other hand, a medical doctor P. Ravi Kumar Naik who joined the BJP only last month was the party candidate in preference to an in-charge of the constituency.
The TRS obviously did not want to risk diverting from the tradition of fielding the kith and kin of leaders whose death caused the election by picking up Mr. Bhagat in an attempt to win the sympathy of voters. The party also played safe by giving representation to a member of Yadava community which constitutes about 40 % of the voters of the constituency.
In selecting Mr. Bhagat, the TRS president sidelined Katteboina Guruvayya Yadav, a brother-in-law of Rajya Sabha member B. Lingaiah Yadav, and Dudimetla Balraj Yadav who was a relative of Mr. Bhagat. In fact, Mr. Balraj Yadav was the son-in-law of a former Telugu Desam leader Ramamurthy who defeated Mr. Jana Reddy in the 1994 Assembly elections.
The TRS chief also went slow on the claims of MLC Chinnapa Reddy and Mr. K.C. Koti Reddy, a staunch supporter of Minister G. Jagdish Reddy, in giving the ticket.
Short term
The question doing rounds in TRS and BJP circles over the selection of new comers was whether they could match the stature of their Congress rival who had a long innings as minister and Leader of Opposition in the last Assembly. They were also arguing that the voters might see Mr. Jana Reddy as a stopgap because he would have only three year term and not of much consequence. The development of the constituency might stop if a non-TRS leader was elected.
Though Mr. Jana Reddy had already launched his campaign, the TRS leaders said they were way ahead because the Chief Minister had addressed a public meeting at Halia as early as February 10 when he announced fourteen lift-irrigation schemes on Nagarjunasagar left bank canal with a budget of ₹ 3,000 crore. A government degree college was also announced for Halia.
The TRS working president K.T. Rama Rao was set to launch road shows to bolster the party chances in the first week of April.
