HYDERABAD: Though the BJP is making tall claims about its steady growth and the Modi factor working in the State, and how it would help them in the upcoming Huzurnagar Assembly bypoll, the ground reality is that the party hardly has any presence in the constituency.
In the 2018 Assembly polls, BJP candidate Bobba Bhagya Reddy managed to get just 1,555 votes, a meagre 0.80 per cent of the total votes polled. In the Lok Sabha elections too, the BJP candidate secured just 3,000 votes in the constituency, which is an indication that the saffron party lacks presence or support in the region.
In Huzurnagar constituency, there are a total of 2,05,605 voters — 1,02,126 male and 1,03,471 female. In the 2018 Assembly elections, Huzurnagar recorded a 85.96 per cent voter turnout. Congress candidate N Uttam Kumar Reddy polled 92,996 votes, while his nearest rival S Saidi Reddy of the TRS polled 85,530 votes. Going by the present trend prevailing in Huzurnagar, the main tussle is likely to be between Congress candidate Padmavathi Reddy and Saidi Reddy of the TRS.
The BJP’s likely candidate Srikala Reddy does not stand any chance of winning the seat as she is not a popular leader and the party too has no presence in the constituency.
The party hardly has 12,000 members in the constituency, which is not good enough to take on the strong candidates of the Congress and TRS. Srikala Reddy, though, appears confident and claims that if the party gives her an opportunity, she is capable of springing a surprise and winning the seat.
“I am sure that the people will vote for me as they have a lot of confidence in Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Uttam (Kumar Reddy) has done nothing for the constituency. If I am elected, I will try to bring Central schemes to the constituency,” she stated.
Political observers feel that the BJP improving from its 0.80 percentage vote share to defeat Congress, which polled 47.82 per cent in the last elections, is next to impossible. While the Congress is making an all-out effort to retain the seat, the ruling TRS is using all its might to snatch the seat from the grand old party.
In such a scenario, dependence on Modi’s popularity and the Central schemes does not seem to be working for the BJP. The saffron party leaders are hoping for results similar to the ones they managed in the Lok Sabha polls when they won four seats.
“We are going to spring a surprise in Huzurnagar. People have a lot of faith in Modi. They showed it in the Parliamentary polls. They will do the same in the bypoll too,” BJP state unit chief K Laxman said.