All eyes in Telangana are now on Dubbaka, a rural Assembly constituency, about 100 km north of Hyderabad, going to by-polls on Tuesday.
The by-election was necessitated by the death of four-time TRS MLA Solipeta Ramalinga Reddy in August, who suffered cardiac arrest.
The ruling party has fielded Solipeta's widow Sujatha as its candidate. The Congress made former minister Cheruku Muthyam Reddy's son Srinivas its nominee after his switchover, miffed by the TRS's decision.
BJP's candidate is Raghunandan Rao, who contested the 2018 Dubbaka Assembly and 2019 Medak Lok Sabha polls unsuccessfully, coming third both times.
However, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi, which won Dubbaka in 2014 and 2018, appears far from a position of garnering sympathy votes and retaining the seat effortlessly.
Dubbaka, nestled between Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao's Gajwel, his nephew and Finance Minister Harish Rao's Siddipet and IT, Industries and Municipal Administration Minister and KCR's son KT Rama Rao's Sircilla, is seen by the locals as a patch of neglect amidst the three high profile constituencies.
The BJP is trying to cash in this resentment, especially of the youth, over the lack of jobs, development in a constituency which has a cordial atmosphere communally.
By consistently fielding the local man and advocate Raghunandan, the BJP has expanded its presence in the constituency and is trying to wrest the seat from the ruling TRS. Raghunandan, also a Velama (landlord caste) as the Kalvakuntla family is, was with the TRS till 2013.
“Surprisingly, the BJP, seen as an urban party, could spread out into remote villages. The youth appears to be attracted and if they could influence their families and others, the TRS could find itself in an embarrassing situation,” P Raju, a teacher from Etigadda Kistapur village, told DH.
The TRS might still manage to pull it off, but the victory margin would be very slender, Raju says.
As the Congress appears to have fallen back in the triangular contest, the TRS-BJP are engaged in a fierce fight.
The events of the past one week, including the seizure of over Rs 18 lakh cash from the BJP contestant's relative house last Monday, and detention of BJP leaders, including state chief Bandi Sanjay visiting Dubbaka, has heated up the election environ. BJP alleged the money was planted by the police at TRS's behest.
On Sunday, the Hyderabad police seized Rs one crore “unaccounted for money” from a car allegedly being taken to Dubbaka to influence voters. City police commissioner Anjani Kumar connected the arrested persons to the BJP candidate.
The BJP alleges the TRS as resorting to large-scale misuse of government machinery especially the police and threats to voters of stopping government benefits if not elected.
Political observers say that the BJP winning or even losing by a thin margin would largely help it consolidate its attempts to become the principal challenger to KCR by the 2023 Assembly elections.
The saffron party made an astonishing comeback winning four Lok Sabha seats in 2019 after its Assembly tally dropped from five to one in 2018. The BJP likens a vote for the Congress as going in the TRS favour pointing to the several MLAs who joined the TRS later.
The high decibel Dubbaka campaign ended on Sunday evening. Close to two lakh voters would choose their next legislator on Tuesday. The results will be out on 10 November.