HYDERABAD: The TRS, which has been looking for a suitable candidate for the forthcoming bypoll to the Nagarjunasagar Assembly seat, seems to have found an answer in Legislative Council Chairman Gutha Sukhender Reddy. The seat has fallen vacant following the sudden demise of incumbent Nomula Narsimhaiah. Ever since, the TRS leaders have been racking their brains on how to retain the seat, with the BJP making menacing gestures that it will wrest it from the ruling party’s stranglehold. The Congress, whose fortunes are on a downward spiral, wants to arrest the trend by fielding K Jana Reddy.
TRS believes Gutha can measure up to Jana Reddy
Jana Reddy, a former Home Minister, has considerable clout in the constituency. The BJP — which has made it clear that it will not allow Nagarjunasagar to slip through its fingers especially after its sensational victory in Dubbaka and a commendable performance in the GHMC election — is now in search of a candidate who can increase its strength to three in the Assembly. As the saffron party does not have much support in the district, it is now shopping for one from other parties but without much success. In fact, it had tried to reach out to Jana Reddy but he has chosen to remain loyal to the grand old party.
According to sources, the TRS leadership believes that Sukhender Reddy, a popular leader, can easily measure up to Jana Reddy, though the latter represented Nagarjunasagar in the Assembly in 2014. From a farming family, Sukhender Reddy represented Nalgonda thrice in Lok Sabha (1999, 2009 and 2014).
As he is originally from the TDP and the Congress stock before he could join the TRS, the pink party believes that he will be easily able to pull off a victory over the grand old party’s nominee. He also knows the Congress leaders and workers in the constituency whom he can win over to the TRS side. This apart, since he was a TDP MP (2009), he has connections with the party’s leaders. Though they are not many, even a few can tilt the scales in the Assembly polls.
Sukhender Reddy’s term as MLC ends in June — another factor that the TRS top brass is keeping in mind while deciding to field the leader, who is regarded as a gentleman, approachable and known for his unflinching loyalty to the party leadership.