SANGAREDDY: Medak has been an important constituency for both Congress and Telangana Rashtra Samithi. It was from this constituency that former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi won in a landslide victory in 1980, paving way for her return to power after Congress’ defeat post-Emergency in 1977. Gandhi represented the constituency till her assassination in 1984. Later, Congress leader M Bagareddy held on to the constituency till 1999.
However, things changed after the Telangana Rashtra Samithi was formed in 2001. In 2004, the first Lok Sabha elections after the party’s inception, A Narendra, a former BJP leader, was elected MP. He represented Medak till 2009. In 2009, party chief K Chandrasekhar Rao chose to field actor-turned-politician Vijaya Shanti from the seat, who managed to win it by a thin majority.
In 2014, the party’s candidate, and victor, was none other than Rao himself. Since Rao had simultaneously won as an MLA from Gajwel, he resigned as an MP, paving way for incumbent MP Kotha Prabhakar Reddy’s election through a by-poll. This time too, Prabhakar Reddy is the TRS’ candidate from the constituency.
To illustrate how strong TRS is in the constituency, one can take a look at the party’s performance in the recent Assembly elections. Of the seven Assembly segments that make up the seat, TRS won six of them. Two of the TRS’ MLAs are political heavyweights in the State; CM Chandrasekhar Rao represents Gajwel, while his nephew and senior party leader represents Siddipet.
Since 1952, there have been 17 elections in Medak. Congress candidates have won nine times and TRS four times. Telugu Desam Party, People’s Democratic Front (Hyderabad), Telangana Praja Samithi and Bharatiya Janata Party have won the seat once each.
Medak constituency is quite well known for its industries. The factories came up in the region after Indira Gandhi’s victory here in 1980; the foundation to the Ordnance Factory at Medak was laid by Gandhi herself. Other private companies too have created thousands of jobs for the youth in the region.
KCR holds record for largest majority
With a margin 3,97,029 of votes, in the 2014 elections, Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao holds the record for the highest majority recorded in Medak Lok Sabha constituency. Second in the list is also a TRS leader, the incumbent MP K Prabhakar Reddy, who won in the 2014 by-polls with a margin of 3,61,277 votes. Third is late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi who won with 2,19,124 votes more than her closest opponent in 1980
CANDIDATES
K Prabhakar Reddy(TRS)
Gali Anil Kumar (Congress)
M Raghunandan Rao(BJP)
Others — 33
The Telangana sentiment
Mallikarjun, an active leader in the 1969 Telangana movement, won the seat twice, once as a candidate of the Telangana Praja Samithi in 1971 and later on a Congress ticket in 1977. Mallikrajun had been jailed twice for his role in the movement. That the ‘Telangana sentiment’ is an important factor here, is quite evident from his victory. In fact, TDP, a party that has been in power several times in AP, managed to win Medak only once