HYDERABAD: The upcoming local body elections and the bypoll for Jubilee Hills Assembly seat in Hyderabad are hanging like a sword of Damocles over the political parties. The three principal parties, ruling Congress, opposition BRS and BJP, are pulling up their socks to keep the party machinery battle ready for these elections.
The ruling Congress appears to be banking heavily on Rythu Bharosa payments made to the farmers Rs 9,000 crore in nine days, with not much criticism from the opposition parties. The MLAs have taken a plunge into preparations for the polls.
They are now busy crafting strategies to win the elections with Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy telling them that their performance in the local body polls alone would be the criterion for moving up in their career ladder. They are now identifying strong candidates for the local body polls.
The ruling party is also focused on Jubilee Hills byelection. It has already won one bypoll, Secunderabad Cantonment, after coming to power, wresting it from the BRS. The Congress is in the process of looking for the right candidate, as any reversal might set off a domino effect and signal declining fortunes. The party wants to leverage the Jubilee Hills bypoll to win the GHMC elections next year.
Hunt for winning horse
The party leaders are understood to be looking for a winning horse for the byelection. The name of former MP G Ranjith Reddy keeps popping up in the discussion among the leaders. He lost the Lok Sabha election from Chevella to the BJP’s Konda Vishweshwar Reddy.
Another potential candidate is late Congress leader P Janardhan Reddy’s daughter Vijaya Reddy, who is a corporator now. Apart from them, party leader Naveen Yadav and a few others are vying for the seat.
Meanwhile, the BRS is also planning to prepare for the rural electoral battlefield. Party MLAs, former legislators and other senior leaders are getting into action-mode to face the local body elections and the Jubilee Hills bypoll. The BRS held the Jubilee Hills seat and now is determined to retain it.
It is likely that party supremo K Chandrasekhar Rao might field a family member of the late Maganti Gopinath. But party leaders admit that it would be a keenly contested election as the Congress and BJP too are keen on winning the byelection.
Split in anti-Cong votes
The BRS is also very focused on local body elections, which are very crucial to the party. During the 10 years when it was in power, it used to sweep all the elections, leaving practically no seats for either the Congress or BJP.
Now, in the changed scenario of the party being in the opposition, the leaders are worried how the result would pan out. The party is worried that the leaders may not put their heart and soul in the elections. At the same time, the BJP is also making a very sincere effort to corner as many seats as possible. If the BJP and BRS split the anti-Congress vote, the beneficiary would be the ruling party.
BJP’s new state president N Ramchander Rao will face his first litmus test in the local body elections. As the saffron party is raring to capture power in the next Assembly elections, the new president is keen that a solid foundation is laid for the party by winning as many seats as possible.
The party is also looking for a strong candidate for Jubilee Hills bypoll. The sources said that the BJP’s unsuccessful candidate in the last election L Deepak Reddy, former Khairatabad MLA Ramchander Reddy and two other leaders are in the race for the ticket.
As Jubilee Hills is part of Secunderabad Lok Sabha constituency, the sitting MP and Union minister G Kishan Reddy is also facing the heat as any reversal in the election might reflect on his performance.