WARANGAL: The erstwhile Warangal district has of late turned into a hotbed of discontent among leaders of both the ruling BRS and the opposition Congress. The 12 Assembly constituencies have become a beehive of activity with aspirants from the opposition parties making their moves. There are also too many in the race for tickets in the constituencies reserved for SCs and STs. Mahabubabad is attracting outsiders from the Congress and BJP.
The Mulugu (ST) constituency is set for an exciting contest as the BRS has announced Bade Naga Jyothi, who come from a Maoist family background, as its candidate. She will take on sitting Congress MLA Dansari Anasuya who is also known as Seethakka, a former Maoist member. Naga Jyothi is presently the ZP chairperson of Mulugu.
The Station Ghanpur constituency has become a subject of a hot discussion among political analysts as loyalists of sitting BRS MLA Rajaiah are spreading the news that their leader is going to contest on a Congress ticket after he was replaced with Kadiyam Srihari by the party supremo and Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao. On the other hand, P Indira has applied for a Congress ticket to contest from Station Ghanpur constituency. She lost to Rajaiah in the 2018 elections.
The one and only constituency which is most sought after by leaders of all parties is Hanamkonda (Warangal West), known as the education hub, where business-class people live and most of the voters are educated. In spite of low voter turnout, it proved to be favourable for the ruling party. This time, Congress leaders Janga Raghava Reddy, DCC president N Rajender Reddy and Katla Srinivas Rao are competing for the party ticket.
Warangal West Assembly seat has proved to be unlucky for the Congress as it lost previous elections due to internal clashes. Former Nizamabad commissioner of police KR Naga Raju, former MP Siricila Rajaiah
and Namindla Srinivas are eying the ticket in this constituency.
Congress seniors warn that the cut-throat competition among the leaders for the seat could boomerang on the party in the form of erosion of support as those denied the ticket may work for the defeat of the party.
After the announcement of the list for 105 seats by the BRS chief recently, candidates are reaching out to the party cadre and people in their respective constituencies.