TDP's entry makes Huzurnagar contest multi-cornered

The by-election to Telangana's Huzurnagar Assembly seat next month is likely to be a multi-cornered contest as the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) announced its candidate for the October 21 poll.

Hoping to revive his party's fortunes in Telangana, party President N. Chandrababu Naidu decided to field the party candidate in the by-election. TDP's Telangana unit President L. Ramna on Sunday announced that Chava Kiranmai will be the party candidate in Huzurnagar. She is party's Organisation Secretary in the state.

The TDP's decision is surprising since it had stayed away from Lok Sabha elections earlier this year.

The Huzurnagar bypoll will be the first election to be contested by the TDP in Telangana on its own since December 2018 Assembly elections which it contested in alliance with the Congress.

The four-party alliance, led by the Congress, faced humiliation as it could win just 21 seats in the 119-member Assembly. The TDP had bagged two seats and one of the legislators subsequently defected to the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS).

Naidu took the decision to field party candidate for the Huzurnagar by-election after consultation with the party leaders from Nalgonda district.

The leaders impressed upon Naidu the need to contest the election to make the party's presence felt in the state. They said contesting the polls was necessary to send a message to the party cadre at the grassroot level that the party is still alive and kicking.

The TDP, which had left Huzurnagar for Congress in 2018, had bagged over 25,000 votes and finished fourth in the 2014 elections.

The bypoll in Huzurnagar is necessitated by the resignation of sitting Congress member Uttam Kumar Reddy from the Assembly, following his election to Lok Sabha from Nalgonda constituency in the recent polls.

The Congress has fielded Uttam Kumar Reddy's wife Padmavathi Reddy. She had lost the Assembly election from Kodad constituency in the same district.

The TRS has named S. Saidi Reddy as its candidate. He lost to Uttam Kumar Reddy in December 2018.