Nalgonda divided between Cong, TRS

Nalgonda is a vast district bordering north Telangana districts of Khammam and Warngal on one side, South Coastal Andhra districts of Krishna and Guntur on another. It was the theatre of Telangana peasants’ armed struggle. Its contribution to Telangana movement in 1969 and Naxalite movement later was considerable. The last phase of Telangana movement saw Nalgonda district in the forefront. The Osmania University campus is dominated by the students from this district. Being close to Hyderabad city, the district can boast of largest number of Engineering colleges after Ranga Reddy district. Because of its geopolitical position, Nalgonda has room for all political parties. It has been a strong forte for TDP for some years. Then it honoured the Congress. Now the TRS is getting stronger by the day although the Congress is in a position to win in some constituencies and TDP too has a couple of constituencies where it can hope to emerge victorious.

Nalgonda (LS): Congress candidate Gutta Sukhender Reddy is a sitting MP. He was actively supporting Telangana movement going to the extent of getting expelled for defying the party high command. Tera Chinnappa Reddy is in the fray as a candidate of BJP-TDP alliance. TRS has fielded Palla Rajeswara Reddy. Of the seven Assembly segments, four have senior Congress leaders-former ministers Kunduru Janareddy, Komatireddy Venkatareddy, Uttam Kumar Reddy and Ramreddy Damodar Reddy- are involved in intensive campaign for their own sake and for the sake of the party nominee for Lok Sabha. This is a factor that would help Sukhender Reddy. There is no danger of cross voting. Added to this, the Congress has a tie up with the CPI which wanted this seat badly. Since it is a constituency in which the Congress has a sitting MP, the party did not concede CPI’s demand forcing it to accept Khammam seat. BJP candidate Tera Chinnappa Reddy is hoping to scrape through with the help of BC votes. The BJP-TDP alliance has allocated four out of seven Assembly constituencies in this LS constituency to BC candidates. The TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu announced the candidature of R Krishnaiah for the post of chief minister in Telangana. BJP candidate hopes this announcement would help him corner BC votes. But there is a TDP rebel in Kancherla Bhupal Reddy in Nalgonda Assembly segment fighting the BJP candidate. Since Nalgonda Assembly segment was allocated to the TDP, there is a BP rebel, Sankineni Venkateswara Rao, in the field. There is a possibility of cross voting in these two constituencies harming the alliance.TRS has fielded Palla Rajeswara Reddy, an educationist who owns educational institutions in Nalgonda district and Hyderabad. He is young and energetic. But the TRS has no organizational network in this Lok Sabha constituency from the beginning. The Telangana sentiment, TRS manifesto and the image of K Chandrasekhara Rao(KCR), chief of TRS, have to help him. Nomula Narasimhaiah,TRS candidate in Nagarjuna Sagar is the only senior politician with some experience of winning elections. In 2009, Sukhender Reddy got 4,93,849 votes against Suravaram Sudhakar Reddy, a candidate of Grand Alliance, now national General Secretary of CPI. Sukhender Reddy’s majority is likely to be reduced.

Bhuvanagiri (LS): There are four Assembly segments- Bhuvanagiri, Aleir, Monugodu, Nakarikel-from Nalgonda district and Ibrahimpatnam from Rangareddy district and Janagama from Warangal district in this LS constituency. This is represented in Lok Sabha by Congress Member Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy, brother of Venkata Reddy. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has addressed an election meeting at Bhuvanagiri on Saturday. BJP leader, former State president, Nallu Indrasena Reddy is in the fray representing the BJP-TDP alliance. He has been campaigning in a systematic way. TRS has fielded Bura Narasaiah, a noted physician and leader of Telangana Doctors JAC. TRS has its influence in almost all the constituencies. Rajagopal Reddy has to contend with contradictions among the Congress groups that are prevalent here. Dr Narasaiah has played an important role in Telangana movement. It is a very keen triangular contest with a slight edge to the sitting MP. In the last election, Rajagopal Reddy had got 5.04.103 votes as against 3,64,215 votes polled by Nomula Narasimhaiah, a CPM leader who was in field as the candidate of Grand Alliance. Rajagopal will be lucky if can scrape through.

Let us examine the position in Assembly Constituencies in the district.

Nalgonda: Sitting Congress MLA Komatireddy Venkatareddy is finding the going tough with the TRS candidate Dubbaku Narasimha Reddy and Kancharla Bhupal Reddy, the TDP rebel, gearing up their campaign. But the anti-Komatireddy votes will be divided by TRS and Independent candidates. This possibility might help in Komatireddy win narrowly.

Munugodu: Palla Venkata Reddy is the CPI candidate here. It was allocated to the CPI by the Congress as part of the seat-sharing agreement. Gandikota Manohar Reddy is representing the BJP-TDP alliance while the TRS has fielded Kusukuntla Prabhakara Reddy. Rajya Sabha Member Palvai Govardhan Reddy’s daughter, Sravanti, is in the fray as Congress rebel. The TPCC has issued a show-cause notice to Reddy for not forcing his daughter to withdraw from contest. Congress votes are unlikely to transfer to CPI. BJP candidate also is unlikely to get TDP votes. TRS has an edge.

Nakerikel (SC): Cheruku Sudhakar, a physician, was in the thick of Telangana movement. A BC who married a Dalit, he sought TRS ticket for his wife which was denied. He resigned from the TRS and his wife Cheruku Lakshmi was fielded by BJP-TDP alliance. The Congress candidate is Chirumarti Lingaiah. TRS has fielded Vemula Veeresham. The main contest is between Lingaiah and Laxmi with the former having an edge.

Devarakonda (ST): The Congress has left this seat for CPI which has nominated Ravindra Kumar. TDP-BJP alliance has fielded Bilya Naik while TRS has nominated Lalu Naik. Main contest is between Ravindra Kumar and Bilya Naik.

Nagarjuna Sagar: Former Minister Kunduru Janareddy is the Congress candidate while the former CPM leader Nomula Narasimhaiah has been fieled by the TRS. TDP candidate Kadari Janaiah has to be content with third position as the main fight is between the Congress and the TRS. Janareddy has an edge. But Nomula Narasimhaiah has been picking up.

Miryalaguda: K Janareddy’s protégé Nallamothu Bhaskara Rao is the Congress candidate here. Algubelli Amarender Reddy has been fielded by the TRS. CPM’s sitting member Julakanti Ranga Reddy is in the field again. TDP man Bantu Venkateswarlu will be in fourth position as a tight triangular contest is on cards. The TRS candidate appears to have a slight edge.

Huzurnagar: Kasoju Sankaramma, mother of Srikanta Chary who immolated himself for the cause of Telangana statehood, is pitted against former minister Uttam Kumar Reddy, the sitting Congress MLA. Gattu Srikanta Reddy is in the field on YSRCP ticket. TRS candidate is giving a tough fight to Uttam Kumar Reddy who might romp home with reduced majority.

Kodada: Uttam Kumar Reddy used all his influence in Delhi to get the Congress ticket for his wife Padmavati. She has been nursing both Huzurnagar and Kodada constituencies for the last ten years. She claims to be a political leader in her own right. TRS has fielded Shashidhar Reddy while the YSRCP has put up Yerneni Babu. Local Congress leader Bollam Mallaiah had left the party to join the TDP owing to his differences with Uttam Kumar Reddy. TDP has promptly fielded him. This is a constituency where the TDP has a good hold. The TDP candidate has an edge.

Suryapet: This is another seat where the TRS might cause an upset. Ramreddy Damodar Reddy is the Congress sitting MLA. He is being challenged by his former associate and TRS candidate Guntakandla Jagdishwar Reddy. TDP has fielded Patel Ramesh Reddy. But there is a BJP rebel in Sankineni Venkateswara Rao as an Independent. It is a four-cornered contest. Damodar Reddy has been working very hard to retain the seat.

Tungaturthi (SC): The Congress high command has changed the candidate in this constituency in the last minute. The candidature of Gudipati Narasaiah who lost in 2009 was announced by the AICC. Later, on the intervention of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, three candidates were changed. Tungaturthi candidate is one of them. The luck favoured Addanki Dayakar, a prominent figure in Telangana movement, who has been fielded by the Congress party. Narasaiah, a follower of Damodar Reddy filed his nomination as Independent but was persuaded to withdraw. Narasaiha is a Madiga and there are more than 40,000 Madiga voters in this constituency. Madiga Dandora has its strong presence. The group which has its sympathies with the leader who was denied the ticket is not working for Dayakar. Moreover, there are two factions led by Damodar Reddy and Komatireddy Venkatareddy. Both are not actively supporting the Congress candidate. There is a triangular contest in this constituency.

Aleir: This is the only constituency in Nalgonda district where the TRS had won earlier. Budida Bhikshamaiah was fielded by the Congress. TRS candidate is Gongadi Sunita Mahinder Reddy. BJP-TDP alliance is represented by Kasam Venkateswarlu. But the main contest is between the Congress and the TRS with the latter having a slight edge.

Bhuvanagiri: In the last five years, there was a lot of change in this constituency. It is increasingly turning favourable to the TRS. Uma Madhava Reddy, former minister, is the TDP candidate. She is quite popular. Congress has fielded Pothamsetty Venkateswarlu while the TRS candidate is Pailla Sekhar Reddy. Jitta Balakrishna Reddy is in the fray as an Independent. Bitta was in TRS first. Then he left TRS and joined the Congress when YS Rajasekhar Reddy was alive. He spoke against KCR in strong language. He then joined YSRCP. But came out of that party along with Konda Surekha and Mahender Reddy. But the Congress did not give him ticket. He did a lot of work in the constituency. But lack of consistency has been his problem. It is a quadrangular fight and the TRS has a slight edge.

Of all the 12 Assembly seats in Nalgonda district, TRS has edge in Alair, Bhuvanagiri, Munugodu, Surayapet and Miryalaguda. The Congress can hope to clinch Nalgonda, Nagarjuna Sagar, Huzurnagar, Nakerikel, Tungaturthi while the TDP can expect favourable turn in Devarakonda and Kodada. Among the two Lok Sabha seats, Nalgonda is clearly in favour of the Congress while Bhuvanagiri is witnessing a keen fight between the Congress and the TRS.

(With inputs from B Ashok Goud, Staff Reporter, HMTV, Nalgonda)