The Zaheerabad Lok Sabha constituency comprising Sangareddy, Kamareddy and parts of Nizamabad districts would witness a three-cornered contest among the ruling TRS, Congress and the BJP in the general elections scheduled to be held on April 11.
While B.B. Patil, a sitting MP, has been re-nominated by the TRS, K. Madan Mohan Rao has been given a ticket by the opposition Congress, and Banala Lakshma Reddy, the BJP president of Kamareddy district unit, has been nominated by the party.
The TRS has an advantage as it wrested all the seven Assembly seats in the elections held in December last. Though the candidature of Mr. Patil was resented by the party leaders in the initial stages, TRS working president K.T. Rama Rao reportedly sorted out the issue.
And the ruling party is determined to win the seat as its cadres are leaving nothing to chance in ensuring that. In the recently-held public meeting at Alladurg in Medak district, TRS president and Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao touched upon crucial issues such as bringing Kaleswaram water to Singur through Mallannasagar project and the progress of the National Investment and Manufacturing Zone (NIMZ), and promised people to make them come true if the party candidate was voted to power in the forthcoming elections.
National politics
The Congress party, on the other hand, is not lagging behind in campaigning for its candidate. At a public meeting held on January 1 at Zaheerabad, All India Congress Committee (AICC) president Rahul Gandhi had lashed out at the TRS saying Mr. Rao and the TRS had no role to play at the national level as the contest was between the Congress and the BJP.
He had said that the regional parties had a limited role to play in national politics.
Mr. Madan Mohan, at the public meeting, had appealed to the people to vote for him as he was born and brought up in Zaheerabad and had the knowledge of the local problems, which would be addressed if he was voted to power.
Meanwhile, BJP candidate Mr. Lakshma Reddy is banking on the image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to win the seat.
“Those who do not want to vote for the Congress party would go for BJP than the ruling TRS, as the latter has limited role in national politics,” he said.
