Huzurnagar, next site for show of strength

Hyderabad: The ensuing Huzurnagar Assembly byelection in Nalgonda will see a keen contest between the Congress to retain the seat and the TRS to wrest it from the party. The newly resurgent BJP will provide the third angle, trying to win the seat.

Despite its best efforts to defeat him, TPCC president N. Uttam Kumar Reddy won the Huzurnagar Assembly seat in December and maintained his lead in the segment in the Lok Sabha elections.

The TRS wants to prove a point by winning the seat against BJP working president J.P. Nadda’s instructions to the party to win the seat. Retaining the seat is more important for Mr Reddy personally than it is for the Congress.

Mr Reddy has not been defeated for the last six elections. He won the Kodad Assembly seat twice and thrice from Huzurnagar. In the recent general elections, he contested from the Nalgonda Lok Sabha seat and won again.

In the Assembly election, Mr Reddy won with a majority of more than 7,000 votes over TRS candidate Saidi Reddy. He also maintained his majority in the Lok Sabha elections.

The TRS wants to wrest Huzurnagar to prove that it retains its popularity. In the Assembly elections the TRS won 88 seats out of the 119 in the Assembly but suffered a setback when the BJP won four seats and the Congress three in the Lok Sabha polls.

But in the rural polls, the TRS swept the state. Given the frontal attack it is facing from the BJP, winning the unbreachable Huzurnagar seat has become a point of prestige, and to prove to its main rivals that it has not lost its hold on the state.

The BJP is strong enough to win the Huzurnagar seat. At best it may increase its vote share. In 2014, the BJP won 963 votes and in 2018 1,555 votes.