NIZAMABAD: It appears that after Huzurabad, Armoor Assembly constituency will be the next battleground for the TRS and BJP.
BJP MP Dharmapuri Arvind has made this more or less clear after declaring that he would contest from Armoor in next Assembly elections, despite the fact that the candidates are finalised by the party high command.
Arvind also promised to defeat A Jeevan Reddy of the TRS by a margin of over 50,000 votes, in case the pink party gives him the ticket.
The BJP MP’s claims may have some substance -- he had been quite active in the constituency since the last elections and prepared the grounds to contest for the Assembly seat.
Arvind has also built a network of BJP cadres in the constituency who are loyal to him, as well as shifting his camp office to Armoor from Nizamabad. Apart from this, he had been providing financial assistance or medical assistance to the poorest of poor families.
He is also sponsoring education of some children suffering from health issues. According to BJP sources, Arvind has been concentrating on health and education.
He is aware that the BCs constitute the major block of voters in the constituency while there are hardly any issues regarding turmeric farmers.
Arvind belongs to Munnurukapu caste and he is confident that he would bag the votes from his community, as well as from the people he has managed to attract on his hardline Hindutva plank. “The caste factor and anti-incumbency will help BJP win the seat,” say his supporters.
Sitting MLA from the TRS A Jeevan Reddy, belongs to Guredikapu and was elected twice from Armoor. He bagged 51.37 per cent of the votes in 2018 and in the 2014 Assembly elections, he got 49.74 per cent. The Congress bagged 30.86 per cent and 39.46 per cent votes respetively. Now, both the TRS and BJP hope to wean away the Congress votes.
By giving Jeevan Reddy the party’s district president post, the TRS leadership has signalled that it plans to attract all BC castes and increase its vote share.