For Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy, also Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president, it is important to win maximum or all the 17 Lok Sabha (LS) constituencies in the State to see his party in power at the Centre. It is even more crucial and rather prestigious for him to win the Mahbubnagar LS seat since his Assembly constituency Kodangal, from which he won as a MLA recently and went on to become CM, comes under it in addition to six other constituencies.
It should be a cakewalk for Congress to capture the Mahbubnagar LS seat with Congress candidates having emerged victorious in all seven Assembly seats in the elections held less than five months ago. Curiously, Congress nominee Ch. Vamshichand Reddy is facing a serious challenge from BJP candidate and its national vice-president D. K. Aruna with reports saying that some sections of voters are tilting towards BJP due to various factors, including the ‘Modi wave’.
On the other hand, TRS is leaving no stone unturned to stage a comeback from the setback it suffered in the 2023 Assembly elections. Its nominee Manne Srinivas Reddy, present MP from the seat, won the 2019 election by securing 41.78% of votes leaving behind D. K. Aruna 33.88% and Vamshichand Reddy with 19.67%.
Mahbubnagar constituency was represented by some top leaders from Congress, including Mallikarjun Goud who served as Union Minister. S. Jaipal Reddy, who won this seat as Janata Dal candidate in 1998, served as a Minister in I. K. Gujral’s cabinet.
From 2009 onwards, the political landscape of Mahbubnagar Lok Sabha seat has been changing swiftly. Mr. Jithender Reddy won the seat on the BJP ticket in 1999, joined TRS and won the seat in 2014. He eventually quit TRS and joined BJP again. He remained with BJP till the 2023 Assembly elections only to join Congress a few weeks ago.
Congress had not won the seat in the past two decades. However, all that changed in the 2023 Assembly elections with its candidates winning all seven Assembly seats.
From securing the national status for Palamuru-Ranga Reddy lift irrigation scheme, railway lines to Vikarabad, development of national highways through the parliamentary constituency and sanctioning of Sainik and Navodaya schools along with bringing in national level institutions might affect voting patterns. Yet, images of individuals and parties are likely to play bigger role.
