HYDERABAD: In the battle for Nagarjunasagar Assembly seat, the fight is between the TRS and K Jana Reddy. This is because, in case of TRS, the party is bigger than the candidate - political novice Nomula Bhagath, son of incumbent Nomula Narasimhaiah, whose death necessitated the by-election.
The bypoll will be held on April 17.The BJP sprang a surprise by fielding a tribal Dr Panubothu Ravi Kumar Naik since there is a significant population of tribals in the constituency.
Dr Naik joined the BJP only two months ago and is a local doctor. In case of Jana Reddy, Congress which is fielding him, pales into insignificance as he stands tall in the wake of the party having lost most of its sheen over the last few years.
TRS supremo and Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao announced Bhagath’s candidature on Monday. Voters are not quite acquainted with 37-year-old Bhagath but he will have to take on seasoned politician 75-year-old Jana Reddy, who is a popular leader.
His candidature having been cleared some time back, Jana has been vigorously campaigning for over 20 days now. A seven-time MLA and former Home Minister, Jana was defeated twice, in 1994 by TDP’s Gundeboina Rammurthy Yadav and in 2018 by Nomula Narasimhaiah of TRS.
Incidentally, both the candidates who defeated Jana belong to the Yadava caste. Jana, with his personal image has outgrown his party - Congress. Now, he will have to face a political novice Bhagath, who entirely banks on the charm of KCR and the appeal TRS has among people.
The advantages for Bhagath are that the sympathy factor might work in his favour as well as goodwill generated for TRS on account of implementation of several welfare and development works in the last six years.
Besides, the State government also announced 13 lift irrigation projects ahead of the notification for the by-election. The TRS is also pinning its hopes on 1.53 lakh beneficiaries of the government schemes.
If the TRS retains its seat, it will send signals that the pink party is strong as ever and the setbacks it suffered recently are only a minor blip in its long history of electoral triumphs. If Jana wrests the seat from the TRS, his popularity graph in the Congress will rise and he may occupy key position in the party.
His elevation might check MP A Revanth Reddy's ascent. This will be music to the ears of senior leaders of the TRS who wear their hatred for him on their sleeves. Also in the fray is TDP's Muvva Arun Kumar, who will file his papers on Tuesday.
The BJP, after announcing the candidature of Ravi Kumar Naik, is now trying to mollify the ruffled feelings of the three aspirants for the party ticket - Anjaiah Yadav, Indrasena Reddy and Nivedita Reddy. While party leaders could pacify Anjaiah and Indrasena Reddy, they are unable to reach Nivedita who has filed her nomination papers.