HYDERABAD: The Supreme Court’s dismissal of Danam Nagender’s challenge to his disqualification has cleared the way for a byelection that all three major parties see as more than a fight for one Assembly seat. In the political arithmetic of Hyderabad, the constituency offers Congress, BRS and BJP an opportunity to test their organisational strength and reassure their cadres.
Nagender, for his part, has already signalled that he will face the electorate again. Welcoming the verdict, he said elections were nothing new to him. But his next sentence has opened another chapter: He said he had decided to contest, while keeping his choice of party under wraps. That decision is now being watched closely across the political spectrum.
For the Congress, Nagender remains the obvious name in discussions. Party leaders point to his five terms as an MLA, experience and longstanding network in the city, particularly in Khairatabad.
The party also draws confidence from its recent victories in the Cantonment and Jubilee Hills byelections — seats it had failed to win in the 2023 Assembly elections.
The final decision, however, rests with the party high command on the recommendation of the state unit.
Nagender’s political journey makes the contest particularly layered. First elected from Asifnagar on a TDP ticket in 1994, he moved to Congress and later won Khairatabad for the first time in 2009, when he also served as a minister.
After losing in 2014, he joined the BRS and returned as Khairatabad MLA in 2018 and 2023. His subsequent move to Congress and contest for the Secunderabad Lok Sabha seat led to his disqualification as an MLA.
The BRS, which pursued his disqualification, now faces the task of finding a candidate capable of taking him on. The party is discussing Sai Kiran Yadav, son of former minister Talasani Srinivas Yadav, and MLC Dasoju Sravan, who contested Khairatabad for Congress in 2018.
For the BRS, the byelection is also a test of whether it can rebuild its footing in Hyderabad after losing two byelections despite winning a majority of city Assembly seats in 2023.
The BJP, too, sees an opening. It won Khairatabad in 2014 through Chintala Ramachandra Reddy and believes its organisational base can be converted into a win. Party sources say Ramachandra Reddy is likely to be the candidate, having pursued the disqualification case and remained active in the constituency.
Union Minister G Kishan Reddy’s lead of around 17,000 votes in Khairatabad in the 2024 Lok Sabha election has added to the BJP’s calculations, even though the party finished third in the constituency in the 2023 Assembly election.
With Telangana BJP in-charge Sunil Bansal expected to focus on the constituency, the party is preparing a division- and booth-level campaign.
As the saying goes, the proof of the pudding is in the eating; in Khairatabad, the parties will now have to turn claims of strength into votes.