Hyderabad: With the BRS out of the race, the Telangana BJP is ready to lock horns with Congress to win the Graduate constituency which covers four Lok Sabha segments won by the Saffron party. The party leaders including Union Minister Bandi Sanjay, MPs D Arvind and G Nagesh have taken the elections as a challenge.

Along with the two Teacher’s constituencies, the election of the Medak-Nizamabad- Adilabad- Karimnagar Graduates constituency has become significant because of it encompassing the constituencies of the four big leaders of the BJP. The BRS has decided to stay away from the Council elections and this would mean a direct fight between the Congress and BJP. Similar fight was seen during the Lok Sabha elections. The BJP had gained in Northern Telangana, which was once a stronghold for the BRS and in the Lok Sabha election, the Pink Party had lost deposits in most of the segments. The BJP victory in these four districts is going to be a strong factor in favour of the party’s candidate C Anji Reddy.

The party has announced the candidature of industrialist C Anji Reddy for this seat and he has been in the campaign meeting the graduates including advocates and others. Anji Reddy had earlier contested unsuccessfully from the Patancheru Assembly constituency in 2014. He had faced a defeat in the hands of Gudem Mahipal Reddy.

“The party leaders feel that the biggest challenge for the party would be to retain the vote base which they got in Lok Sabha. If the party can get the same votes which it got in Lok Sabha, the victory of the party is certain and this will help in increasing the tally in the Telangana Legislative Council,” said a senior BJP leader.

It may be mentioned here that the BJP which had won some good seats in 2019 could not repeat the result in the next Assembly elections. This time around the party has announced the candidates well in advance even before the other parties could do.

The party leaders said that the MPs were preparing ground for the campaign during their weekend stays in the constituency. The MPs are busy in Parliament sessions and would be touring the villages during weekends.

The last date for filing the nominations is February 10 and the election would be held on February 27.