Congress, BJP cross swords for MLC seat in Telangana

Hyderabad: Both the national parties, Congress and BJP, in Telangana are focusing on the upcoming Graduates MLC election scheduled for February 27. This election comes a little more than a year after the assembly polls in which Congress stormed to power in the state, trouncing the incumbent BRS government.

The Graduates MLC constituency of Karimnagar-Nizamabad-Adilabad-Medak spans nearly 42 assembly segments and has more than 355,159 voters, which may reflect the sentiments and also the mood among the educated voters on the ground.

If Congress wins the seat, it can assert that the government’s popularity remains intact. Conversely, if the BJP wins, it can convey the message that the Congress government is facing anti-incumbency challenges.

The BRS has decided not to contest in this election. Interestingly, currently Congress holds the seat. Congress leader T Jeevan Reddy is the sitting MLC from the constituency. The segment comes from north Telangana, where BJP has been steadily making inroads in the last few years.

It was in this region where the BJP won maximum number of seats in the Lok Sabha elections last year and the maximum MLAs in the 2023 assembly elections. Since BRS has decided to stay away from the fray, two of its leaders who anticipated tickets to contest and are now contesting as independent candidates may split votes that may work in favour of either of the BJP or Congress candidates.

Union minister of state for home affairs, Bandi Sanjay Kumar, who is elected to Lok Sabha from Karimnagar in the same north Telangana region, has been personally monitoring the campaign strategy of the saffron party. He has been conducting meetings and contributing to the campaign for a long time.

Congress too deployed a few ministers in the state cabinet to ensure the win of the party candidate. Notably, the number of voters since the last election held in 2019 had gone up manifold from 196,321 to a whopping 355,159. Both parties had worked hard to include as many eligible voters as possible to ensure a win, which also shows the interest among them in the election. The main contest is expected to be between Congress candidate V. Narender Reddy and BJP's Ch. Anjireddy, while there are around 56 in the fray. Both Narender Reddy and Anjireddy run a chain of educational institutions in the region.