MAHABUBABAD: The leaders who had won with a slender majority against their rivals in the last Assembly elections are a worried lot. Both the leaders as well as the parties are working hard in an attempt to reverse that trend and secure victories with a bigger margin in the upcoming polls.
The MLAs who had scraped through with less than 5,000 majority against their opponents are planning to concentrate on the segments where they polled less votes. Even ministers and opposition party leaders are gearing up for the big challenge and trying to come up with an even better performance in the coming elections.
The ruling BRS has started the groundwork to consolidate their support base in the constituencies where their MLAs had won with a slender majority. In the last Assembly elections, the ruling party’s candidates had to survive tense moments before emerging winners in around 10 to 12 segments. Minister Koppula Eshwar won the Dharmapuri Assembly constituency with a majority of just 441 votes. He is now focussing all his energies on the constituency to get more votes in the upcoming elections. MLA Athram Sakku, who won on the Congress ticket before joining the ruling party, bagged the Asifabad seat with a majority of 171 votes.
Manchireddy Kishan Reddy was elected from Ibrahimpatnam segment with 376 votes majority against BSP candidate and former MLA Malreddy Rangareddy. He is also working hard to retain the seat with a bigger margin. The party too is focusing on the segment where both the BJP and Congress are doing their best to clinch the seat.
In Kodad constituency, Bollam Mallaiah Yadav won with 756 votes majority against the Congress candidate — N Uttam Padmavati. Leaders of both these parties are now touring the segment extensively in an attempt to win the seat in the next polls. Ruling party MLA Gadari Kishore Kumar won the Thungathurthy seat with 1,847 votes majority against Congress candidate Addanki Dayakar. He is now reportedly working at the ground level not only to retain the seat but do it with a bigger margin. The rival parties are keeping him on his toes as their leaders too are touring the constituency on a regularly basis.
In Amberpet, the ruling party candidate Kaleru Venkatesham defeated BJP’s G Kishan Reddy, the current Union Minister of Tourism, by 1,016 votes. He has been participating in various development programmes in the constituency and also interacting with the local people to gain their confidence. He hopes to retain the seat with a bigger margin. Kishan Reddy too is focusing all his energies on this segment which he has represented twice in the past.
Several Congress and BRS MLAs, including CLP Leader Bhatti Vikramarka, Jagga Reddy, Pilot Rohit Reddy, Methuku Anand, G Jaipal Yadav, Haripriya Banoth, Lavudya Ramulu and Vanama Venkateswar Rao, won their respective seats with less than 5,000 votes majority. All of them are now reportedly leaving no stone unturned in an attempt retain their seat with a bigger margin in the next elections.