KARIMNAGAR: Residents of Karimnagar Assembly constituency are an excited lot these days following rumours that Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao is likely to contest the next elections from this segment.While there have been no hints from the TRS or the State government that there is any truth to these rumours, their excitement is understandable, given the fact that a leader of the stature of Chandrasekhar Rao would be representing them in the Assembly.
These rumours are bolstered by the fact that the TRS supremo attaches immense sentimental value to Karimnagar and is also known to change his constituency every election.Also, the recent visit to the constituency by his daughter and MLC K Kavitha is being seen as an effort to prepare the ground for her father. Though Kavitha’s recent visit was in her personal capacity, she enquired about the party position in the constituency, and also met some party leaders and non-political leaders. Kavitha’s Telangana Jagruthi has been active in the constituency, conducting various programmes.
It may be remembered that Chandrasekhar Rao had contested twice from the Karimnagar Lok Sabha seat and Kavitha had played a pivotal role in her father’s victory. Similarly, when her father contested the 2009 General Elections from Mahabubnagar, she had led the campaign.
While TRS has been unchallenged in the erstwhile Karimnagar district in the recent past, with no other party coming close to defeating it electorally, there is just a hint of anti-incumbency in the air. If Chandrasekhar Rao does indeed contests from the Karimnagar Assembly seat, it would have a crushing impact on anti-incumbency in the surrounding Assembly segments also.
Such a move will force the BJP to redraw its plans since BJP State president Bandi Sanjay Kumar is also planning to contest from either Karimnagar or Vemulawada Assembly constituency, according to saffron party sources. Meanwhile, security has been beefed up at the residence of the TRS supremo, known as North Telangana Bhavan at Teegalagutapalli on the outskirts of Karimnagar.