Hyderabad: For two decades, the Medak Lok Sabha constituency has been the crown jewel for the BRS and the opposition party is desperately keen on winning the seat, which covers two Assembly segments — Gajwel and Siddipet — that BRS chief K. Chandrashekar Rao and senior leader T. Harish Rao represent.
The BRS held its sway over the Medak Lok Sabha constituency since the 2009 Lok Sabha elections. The Congress, which had seen its leader and former prime minister Indira Gandhi win from Medak in the 1980 elections and having its other candidate getting elected four times subsequently, wants to win its previous stronghold. So does the BJP which won twice in 1999 and 2004.
Expressing confidence that the Congress is all set to wrest the seat this time, Neelam Madhu Mudiraj, the party candidate, said his party had done a lot for Medak district and the constituency. “People still recall Indira Gandhi’s term as an MP from here. It was during Congress rule that the district got BHEL and BDL. It was the Congress which created employment and provided assignment lands for the poor here,” he said.
Neelam Madhu also said that all the communities from BCs, SCs, STs, and minorities, were supporting the Congress this time. “As a BC candidate from the Mudiraj community, I am getting a lot of support from them. And people appreciate that of the Six Guarantees promised by the Congress in the state, five have already been implemented,” he said.
The BRS is also working hard to ensure the victory for its candidate, former Siddipet district collector P. Venkatram Reddy, with senior BRS leader T. Harish Rao being given the responsibility for the party’s success in Chandrashekar Rao’s home district.
Speaking to the media after filing his nomination papers, Venkatram Reddy said on Wednesday that he has 11 years of association with the constituency and with the people of Siddipet, Medak, and Sangareddy as a district collector. “I was given the party ticket because people from every village know me. I appeal to the voters to think for a minute about the qualities of the candidates before they vote. The Congress has shown that it cannot be trusted, while the BJP’s candidate is one who cheated the people by making impossible promises in the Dubbak bypoll to win from there.”
Countering his opponents, BJP’s M Raghunandan Rao has been going hammer and tongs at both the Congress and the BRS and explained how many Central funds were used for various programmes and schemes in the constituency under the BJP rule.
He has particularly targeted the BRS candidate saying Venkatram Reddy was not a local person and that it was only after he bowed to Chandrashekar Rao that he was made a BRS MLC. “As an MLC he could not even get Rs 100 crore sanction to the constituency when his party was in power. This is a person who people should not trust and vote for,” Raghunandan Rao said.
Infograph
Medak MPs since 1980
2019 – K Prabhakar Reddy- BRS
2014 – K Prabhakar Reddy- BRS
2009 – Vijayashanti – BRS
2004 – A Narendra – BJP
1999 – A Narendra – BJP
1998 – M Baga Reddy – INC
1996 – M Baga Reddy – INC
1991 – M Baga Reddy – INC
1989 – M Baga Reddy – INC
1984 – P Manik Reddy – TDP
1980 – Indira Gandhi – INC
Medak Assembly segments and their representatives
Gajwel – K Chandrashekar Rao - BRS
Siddipet – T Harish Rao – BRS
Dubbak – Kotha Prabhakar Reddy – BRS
Medak – Mynampally Rohit – INC
Narsapur – V Sunitha Laxma Reddy – BRS
Sangareddy – Chinta Prabhakar – BRS
Patancheru – Gudem Mahipal Reddy – BRS
