HYDERABAD: The recent political moves orchestrated by Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy have made it clear that he has made the Jubilee Hills byelection his own.
What ought to have been a routine bypoll has now evolved into a battle of prestige for the Congress and a litmus test for the chief minister’s leadership and governance claims. The recent reshuffle within the party has set the tone.
Mohammad Azharuddin’s induction into the Cabinet, Bodhan MLA P Sudarshan Reddy’s appointment as advisor to the government and Mancherial MLA Prem Sagar Rao’s elevation as chairman of the Civil Supplies Corporation — all have sparked speculation that Revanth is moving his pieces with care, balancing ambition with loyalty. Each new appointment, say insiders, serves a single purpose: shoring up the party ranks ahead of the byelection.
A personal challenge
Within the Congress, it is no secret that Revanth has taken the Jubilee Hills contest as a personal challenge. He is said to be directly steering the campaign, from finalising the candidate to fine-tuning booth-level strategies. The chief minister, party sources say, views the poll as a referendum on his two years in office and intends to use it to reaffirm his government’s narrative of “restored governance” after a decade of BRS rule.
Congress strategists plan to highlight welfare initiatives, infrastructure projects, and the fulfilment of poll guarantees as the pillars of their campaign.
Revanth has kicked off a series of roadshows, his first in a byelection since assuming office. This is symbolic of the personal weight he has placed on this fight. For him, Jubilee Hills is not just another constituency. It is a microcosm of urban Telangana: diverse, vocal and politically unpredictable. With its concentration of minorities, IT professionals and young voters, the seat offers a measure of the city’s shifting political mood ahead of the 2026 GHMC elections.
The Congress campaign is expected to unfold in waves, with senior ministers, MLAs and star campaigners descending on the constituency over the next 10 days. Every visit, every roadshow, and every slogan will be watched for signs of momentum, or missteps.
Across the aisle, the opposition is sharpening its attacks. The BRS, which held the seat, is fighting to reclaim its urban base. BRS working president KT Rama Rao has framed the contest as a battle to defend his party’s legacy in Hyderabad’s development story, insisting that the city owes its growth to the pink party rule.
Alternative force
The BJP, meanwhile, is positioning itself as the “real alternative”, framing its campaign around corruption, law and order, and the alleged neglect of urban infrastructure. BJP leaders have accused the Congress of fielding a candidate with previous ties to the AIMIM and have sought to portray the ruling party’s campaign as one driven by appeasement politics. They have also revived allegations that “rowdy sheeters” are influencing the poll, framing the contest as a fight for law and order itself.
Both the BRS and BJP have alleged that the Congress is misusing state machinery to tilt the playing field, signalling an aggressive final phase of campaigning.
Political observers view the byelection as more than a local contest. For Revanth, a win would consolidate his authority within the party and reinforce his image as the face of Congress resurgence in Telangana. A setback, however, could embolden detractors, both within his ranks and in the opposition, turning the bypoll into a referendum not only on governance, but on his political future itself.
