Cong bets on Feroz to pip Jaffer at the post

The MIM candidate from Nampally, Jaffar Hussain, is said to be a hard nut to crack, as he stays in touch with his constituents. People have observed one of his unique traits is praying at a new mosque every day in the evening and meeting with namazis and locals – a practice kept up for the last tenur of his four-and-half-a-years

- Cong aspirant Feroz testing his fortune once again
- This is the third time Feroz will be contesting to defeat MIM in Nampally
- Despite being a turncoat changing loyalties from Congress to PRP to TDP and back to Cong, he enjoys a huge support in slums
- He is the only candidate who has potential to drub the MIM candidate, Jaffer Hussain

Hyderabad: Even as other political parties are yet to officially announce their candidates for the Nampally constituency, the MIM is employing all kinds of campaign modes to retain its hold. Amongst other political parties, Congress ticket aspirant Mohammad Feroz Khan, who gave a tough fight in the last election, is once again gearing up for another battle against MIM.

Since 2009, Feroz Khan remained an important factor in the political space, as he contested from Praja Rajyam Party of Chiranjeevi and lost to MIM’s Virasat Rasool Khan by a margin of just 6,799. Later, he fought on a TDP ticket against MIM’s Jaffar Hussain Meraj and lost with a huge margin. The loss is attributed to TDP’s alliance with BJP and the negative impact of Modi factor in Muslim dominated areas. Some political analysts believe that the leader who had learnt from his mistakes will make a comeback and would give a tough fight to MIM candidate Jaffar Hussain, the former deputy Mayor and incumbent MLA.

Despite Feroz being a turncoat changing political parties at his whim from Congress to Praja Rajyam Party and TDP and back to Congress, he enjoys the support from huge population from slums like Ahmed Nagar and Bholanagar of First Lancer at the foothills of Banjara Hills. Riding on this support this will be the third time Feroz will be contesting from the constituency. No other candidate from Congress party is believed to have the following like the Feroz. Being a tech savvy, the leader remains active on social media platforms and remains in touch with his cadre.

The MIM candidate from the Nampally, Jaffar Hussain, is said to be a hard nut to crack, as he remained in touch with the constituents during his tenure. People have observed one of his unique traits as praying in each of the mosques of his constituencies during evening prayers and meeting the namazis and locals during the last four-and-half-a-years of his MLA tenure. It is believed that in Nampally constituency, the infighting amongst the party leaders against the incumbent Jaffar Hussain has impacted the development works. Mohammed Majid Hussain, former Mayor and Yasser Arafat, son of Mumtaz Ahmed Khan remained top challengers of former deputy Mayor, Jaffar Hussain ever since he was given Nampally ticket in 2014. The party leadership tried to sort out the matters, but the cadres of these leaders remained loyal to the local leadership and could prove damage to the prospects in the upcoming elections.

Amongst other political parties, which could get substantial number of votes would be BJP which could not contest in 2014, because of the alliance with TDP but will be fielding their candidate this time. One of the top contenders from the party is city vice president JL Rahul Chandra, a close aide of former Union Minister and Secunderabad MP Bandaru Dattatreya.

A BRIEF POLITICAL HISTORY
The Nampally Assembly constituency is one among the 15 constituencies of Hyderabad and is part of Secunderabad Lok Sabha constituency. Following delimitation, the constituency was carved out of Asifnagar Assembly constituency prior to 2009 elections. It comprises Nampally, Masab Tank, Asif Nagar, Saifabad, Mallepally, part of Chintal Basti and part of Gudimalkapur area. The constituency comprises mostly of middle-class voters looking for basic amenities that are functional and well-maintained.

Danam held sway till 2004
Prior to delimitation in 2009, the Nampally constituency was part of Asifnagar Assembly constituency and Danam Nagender was elected from Asifnagar constituency in 1994 was its MLA till 2004. In 2004, the MIM candidate Mohammed Moazam Khan defeated Nagendar by a margin of 2,110 votes in byelection.

In the 2004 Andhra Pradesh state Assembly elections, he left the Indian National Congress (INC) for Telugu Desam Party (TDP). After winning from Asifnagar on the TDP ticket, he resigned his seat and left the TDP in an effort to get a place in the cabinet of Y S Rajasekhara Reddy through re-election as an INC MLA. He lost the seat to MIM in the by-election. Earlier the MIM had held the Asifnagar seat till 1994 and from the 1994 general elections the seat was continuously won by Nagendar.

Major Problems in Constituency

Irregular drinking water supply
The irregular drinking water supply remains the main problem in most of the localities of the constituency and has not been resolved. It is believed that the water problem remains persistent owing to the topography. The low-lying areas get the water, but localities on high ground suffer regularly.

Drainage overflow
Almost all the localities do not have proper road and lack of coordination between GHMC and HMWSSB has not only created bad roads, but also drainage overflow has been a cause of inconvenience for the residents and pedestrians.

Shortage of govt hospitals
The leaders from opposition parties have pointed out that the constituency lacks government hospitals in the Nampally division. And the existing ones are in a pathetic condition. For instance, Niloufer hospital do not have adequate staff or doctors to attend the patients.

No proper infra in govt schools
Amongst others, the government schools also do not have proper infrastructure and whenever it rains the water seeps inside classrooms. Lack of proper toilets is also a discouraging factor for parents to send the girls to the government schools.

Rising crime graph
It is being alleged that because of unemployment, youth are indulging in anti-social activities and crime incidents like murders have gone up in recent years.

Mosquito menace
In recent years, the mosquito problem also reached menacing proportions, which otherwise were confined to localities close to polluted water bodies.