Uttam seeks to salvage pride for party

Nalgonda: Forced on the backfoot by the ruling TRS, Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) chief N Uttam Kumar Reddy is on a mission to salvage pride for his party, battered by desertions by more than half of its MLAs in the State.

The Congress central leadership decided to field the party's top State leaders, including Uttam Kumar Reddy, in the April 11 Lok Sabha elections after 10 of its 19 MLAs announced their decision to join the TRS during last month.

Contesting in the Lok Sabha elections for the first time, he is in the fray in Nalgonda Lok Sabha constituency, making it one of the keenly-watched fights as ruling TRS seeks to extend its winning spree after its success in the Assembly polls last December.

Uttam Kumar Reddy, sitting MLA from Huzurnagar under Nalgonda constituency, has been elected to the Legislative Assembly for the fifth term, but Lok Sabha elections would be a different ball game for him, and he has an uphill task.

The ruling party has been single-mindedly pursuing its goal to win 16 out of the total 17 seats (leaving Hyderabad seat held by AIMIM) asserting that it would enable the Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao-led outfit to play a "decisive" role at the Centre post-Lok Sabha elections.

TRS has fielded a new face Vemireddy Narasimha Reddy to take on Uttam Kumar Reddy. BJP's G Jithendra Kumar and Mallu Lakshmi of the CPI(M) are also in the fray.

In the Assembly elections held in December last, the TRS had won six constituencies under Nalgonda Lok Sabha segment -- Devarakonda (ST), Nagarjuna Sagar, Miryalguda, Kodad, Suryapet and Nalgonda, while Uttam Kumar Reddy emerged victorious in Huzurnagar.

In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Gutha Sukhender Reddy of the Congress defeated T Chinnapa Reddy of the TDP. However, Sukhender Reddy, who had won in 2009 also, has since switched over to the TRS adding to the ruling party's strength.

The TDP is not contesting the Lok Sabha elections in Telangana State this time and made no secret that it would back the Congress. A predominantly rural constituency, Nalgonda had been a stronghold of the Communist parties. CPI General Secretary S Sudhakar Reddy was elected to Lok Sabha from Nalgonda in 2004.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi addressed an election rally in Uttam Kumar Reddy's Assembly constituency of Huzurnagar on April one. Uttam Kumar Reddy, who has been canvassing in various Assembly constituencies, has highlighted the minimum income guarantee scheme announced by Gandhi to convince the voters to vote for him.

"Annually, Rs 72,000 would directly come to the bank accounts of the poor from Central government," he has said.

During his campaign, he has hit out at the TRS over its claim to ensure a better deal for Telangana State if it wins 16 Lok Sabha seats. Claiming that TRS already had 15 MPs on its side (including defected MPs and ally AIMIM) in the outgoing Lok Sabha, he said the TRS had failed to achieve anything substantial for the state from 2014 to 2019.

"How can the TRS influence national politics with 16 MPs when the total number of MPs in Lok Sabha is 542", he asked. TRS nominee Narasimha Reddy, a political novice, is banking on the leadership of Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao and the welfare and development programmes of the TRS government.

Though Uttam Kumar Reddy is a senior leader, what is required is people's support, he said. "There is nothing like senior or junior. People's support is required when we go to them. People only see the rule of KCR, TRS government and the ongoing programmes," he told PTI.

Narasimha Reddy, a businessman, said he conveys to the people to work for the development needs of Nalgonda under the leadership of Rao. The TRS chief has already addressed a party campaign rally earlier at Miryalguda.

BJP's nominee Jithendra Kumar is heavily banking on the popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi like all other BJP candidates in the state. "People are very positive about voting for BJP. Everybody wants to see Narendra Modi as Prime Minister again. Some may doubt if such strong support is there for BJP in Telangana.

But many said during Assembly elections (in December last) that they will make BJP victorious in parliament elections," he told PTI.

Many Congress leaders have left the party with Uttam Kumar Reddy at the helm of affairs in state Congress, he said. In the given situation, Congress supporters are looking towards BJP, he claimed.

Uttam Kumar Reddy had to enter the fray as the party was not sure of winning the seat otherwise, Jithendra Kumar claimed. The TRS nominee, a realtor, is not known to anyone, he added.