Hyderabad: The Huzurabad constituency assembly by-election has become a matter of pride for the Congress party especially for the new Pradesh Congress Committee President A. Revanth Reddy.
It will be the first election in the state after Revanth Reddy assumed the responsibility of the party presidency. By achieving better results, he can showcase his strengths to the party. Reddy has been handed over the responsibility of the Congress when the party morale is at its low in the state.
Recently, the party lost the Dubbak and Nagarjunasagar constituencies’ assembly by-elections. In the Dubbak seat, the BJP was victorious whereas TRS won in the Nagarjunasagar constituency.
In the Nagarjunasagar by-election, the Congress party had high hopes from Jana Reddy. Now, in the third by-election in the state, Revanth Reddy’s popularity and skills will be tested.
As former TRS minister Etela Rajender has joined BJP, a keen contest will be witnessed between TRS and BJP with the Congress party not even in the frame. One of the prime reasons for the Congress party’s weak status in the Huzurabad constituency is that its candidate Kaushik Reddy who contested the assembly elections in 2018 has joined the TRS party. Apart from him, many of the Congress party district-level workers have joined the TRS or BJP parties.
Revanth Reddy is facing obstacles in nominating a candidate for the by-election. He has appointed the party’s senior leader and former deputy chief minister Damodar Raj Narsimha as in charge of the Huzurabad constituency by-election campaign.
Narsimha has begun his responsibilities by visiting the mandals and villages of Huzurabad. He met the local leaders and workers to review the party’s progress.
Meanwhile, Revanth Reddy has decided to hold a special coordination meeting on the Huzurabad by-election. Senior leaders and Congress party elected representatives from the Karimnagar district have been asked to attend the meeting. In the meeting, party status in the district and the possible candidate’s names will be discussed.
In view of the influential Dalits vote bank, the TRS and the BJP have started the padayatras in the district. For TRS, the Dalit Bandhu scheme could be a game-changer while the BJP has also inducted Dalits leaders into their party. The Congress party is in search of a strong leader from the Dalit or backward caste to make its presence felt in the election fray.
Since 1983, 11 elections have been held in the Huzurabad constituency but the Congress has never tasted victory in any of the elections. In the 2009 elections, the Congress party candidate got 14000 votes. In other elections, the difference of votes between Congress and the winning parties was around 20,000 votes.
Since 2009, Etala Rajender was representing the Huzurabad constituency assembly seat. In 2018 polls, Rajender won by a margin of around 43,000 votes while the Congress contestant Kaushik Reddy received 60,000. If Kaushik Reddy would have been in Congress then the party could have fared better this time too.