Can Kishan Reddy pull off an encore in Secunderabad?
Secunderabad Parliamentary constituency has been a lucky one for BJP candidates in the recent past. Whoever won from here, such as Bandaru Dattatreya (1998, 1999 & 2014) and Telangana BJP president and Union Minister G. Kishan Reddy (2019), have gone on to become Union Ministers in the Central Government.
Though Mr. Dattatreya (now Haryana Governor) was dropped from the Modi Government without any reason being assigned, Mr. Kishan Reddy, who had replaced him in the constituency in the last election, was also accommodated in the Centre — rst as Union Minister of State and later as a full-edged Cabinet Minister in 2019.
There has been a sea change in the political scenario since then with the Congress party forming the government in Telangana in December last, but the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) had won six of the seven Assembly segments in Musheerabad, Amberpet, Khairatabad, Jubilee Hills, Sanatnagar and
Secunderabad.
The one remaining seat was won by the Majlis narrowly with the Congress party putting up a sti ght in Nampally. The saron party fared poorly in many seats, even coming third, making it quite a task for Mr. Kishan Reddy to turn the tables and emerge victorious again. Yet, he is unfazed.
“This happened in the last elections as well. We won just one Assembly seat. I lost from Amberpet, but we won four Lok Sabha constituencies in the Parliament polls including getting a majority in the segment within four months. Voters clearly told us at the time of the Assembly polls that they will vote for BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Parliamentary elections,” he claims.
Mr. Reddy has released a progress report on his work such as getting Secunderabad railway station modernised, completing MMTS phase II, Cherlapalli terminal station upgradation, Kazipet wagon repair workshop, development of tribal museum, etc. He has been taking no chances, spending considerable time in touring the constituency even if it meant avoiding campaigning elsewhere.
But, he faces a tough electoral battle because his opponents are no pushovers. T. Padma Rao of the BRS is a sitting MLA from Secunderabad, having won thrice in successive elections, and is considered a popular leader. He has been campaigning extensively, and his leader K.T. Rama Rao has been addressing streetside public meetings about civic infrastructure improvement during their government, while attacking State and Central governments.
Congress candidate Danam Nagender is another unique case, who continues to be BRS MLA from Khairatabad constituency even after switching parties. He was chosen by Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy over many other claimants because of his solid voter base. He is a ve-time legislator, having won thrice from Asifnagar (once on a TDP ticket) and twice on a BRS ticket, indicating his sway among voters.
Mr. Nagender has been rubbishing Mr. Kishan Reddy’s claims over getting funds and works pointing out to the unnished Amberpet yover. Mr. Revanth Reddy too has been holding street corner meetings with the ‘Donkey egg’ symbol accusing the Modi Government and the Union Minister of doing “nothing” to get special projects in the last 10 years.
Voter feedback varies from area to area. “Mr. Padma Rao is approachable and is liked across party lines so it does not matter whether BRS is on the backfoot or not,” says businessman Preetham.
“Mr. Kishan Reddy’s people are all over, but you can never underestimate Nagender’s following,” says Srinivas, another businessman. “Mr. Modi remains popular and Mr. Reddy is approachable,” says Prasad, an advocate.
Plus, there is the minority vote which can decide the winner despite being unevenly distributed, as it is close to 30%.
Will they stick with the BRS as they may well have done during the Assembly elections, or shift their loyalties? The constituency has issues of inadequate water supply, bad internal roads, ooding during rains, etc.