BJP heavyweight Eatala Rajender's Huzurabad stares at high-stakes 3-corner fight

Huzurabad, a cotton farming region, that had shot into fame when BRS Supremo KCR's former trusted lieutenant and top aide, Eatala Rajender had quit the ruling party and was re-elected in a bypoll in 2021 on a BJP ticket.

Huzurabad: Huzurabad, a cotton farming region, that had shot into fame when BRS Supremo and Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao's former trusted lieutenant and top aide, Eatala Rajender had quit the ruling party and was re-elected in a bypoll in 2021 on a BJP ticket, is set to witness a three corner fight instead of a bipolar contest. Much has changed in the ground two years after the by poll that was held on October 30, 2021.

While Rajender who was elevated as BJP's campaign committee chairman, is now contesting from two seats and trying to save his political career by proving his dominance in Huzurabad, KCR who wants to assert his supremacy had laid special focus on the segment and fielded Padi Kaushik Reddy, a former Congress leader, who is seen as a strong contender with all resources at his disposal including monies.

Congress too, with a general euphoria aided by anti-incumbency visibly seen against the 10 year KCR rule had taken enough care in selecting the candidate. Congress had fielded a green horn Vodithala Pranav, who comes from a family that commands huge respect in the vicinity.

Congress had never won Huzurabad in the last few decades and it had to face embarrassment as its candidate Venkat Rao Bemoor had polled only 3014 votes and lost deposits in the high stakes by poll in 2021. However, Congress wants to wrest the seat and moving pawns carefully.

However, much water flowed in the last two years. “After Kaushik Reddy dumped Congress and joined BRS many of the ruling party leaders are uncomfortable with him. Congress leaders too have been working with renewed interest to teach a lesson to Kaushik Reddy and also defeat Rajender,” former Jammikunta Market Committee chairman, Tummeti Sammi Reddy told DH.

Vodithalas are a popular and hugely respected family in and around Huzurabad. Pranav's grandfather Rajeswar Rao was once a Rajya Sabha member when PV Narasimha Rao was the prime minister of India. Pranav's uncle, V Lakhmikantah Rao had also represented Huzurabad in the past as TRS MLA.

Eatala Rajender had won the 2021 by poll with 23,855 votes against the BRS candidate Gellu Srinivas Yadav. There has been a drop in vote margin of almost 20,000 compared to the votes Rajender polled in 2018 polls as a BRS candidate.

Ever since the advent of TRS which is now rechristened as BRS, Huzuarbad has been the strong bastion of the pink party. Rajender had been winning the segment since 2009.

But, not many are liking Rajender going to Gajwel as well. This time he is contesting in Gajwel pitting himself against KCR.

“Why did he go to Gajwel to contest against KCR only god knows. He has been representing the segment since long and was unceremoniously ousted by KCR from the cabinet, out of sympathy we all voted for him in 2021 by poll. Nowadays he is spending more time in Gajwel and elsewhere than in Huzurabad,” a tea vendor on Huzurabad main road told DH.

Dalits, Muslims, Mudiraj and Reddys are numerically strong groups in Huzurabad and Mudiraj appear to be tilting towards Rajender.