Congress Tries To Win Jubilee Hills Through Basti Bata
Congress launches ‘Basti Bata’ padayatra in Jubilee Hills slums ahead of Nov. 11 bypoll
Hyderabad: The Congress is set to roll out a special outreach campaign, ‘Basti Bata’, aimed at connecting with voters in the slum areas of the Jubilee Hills constituency ahead of the bypoll scheduled for November 11.
The initiative, starting next week, will see ministers Tummala Nageswara Rao, Ponnam Prabhakar, and Gaddam Vivek, along with AICC Telangana in-charge Meenakshi Natarajan and TPCC president B. Mahesh Kumar Goud, undertaking padayatras across various slum localities. The campaign will run for four weeks, leading up to the bypoll.
Under ‘Basti Bata’, senior Congress leaders will walk through the lanes of slum settlements, interact with residents, understand their problems, and assure them of prompt action once the bypoll concludes. They will urge voters to support the party’s candidate, V. Naveen Yadav, emphasising that his victory would strengthen the Congress government’s efforts to transform the constituency.
Despite Jubilee Hills’ reputation as one of Hyderabad’s upscale localities, it houses several densely populated slum clusters struggling with poor infrastructure.
Areas such as RahmathnNagar, Kalyannagar, Krishnanagar, Borabanda, Erragadda, Yousufguda, Shaikpet, and Ambedkarnagar are home to many lower-income families. Residents here face civic issues including poor sanitation, overflowing drains, contaminated water, damaged roads, illegal constructions, mosquito infestations, and flooding during rains.
Anticipating the bypoll, the Congress government has sanctioned `120 crore in development works over the past two months, primarily targeting improvements in roads, drainage, water pipelines, and other civic amenities in these neglected areas. Party leaders plan to highlight these measures during their visits as evidence of the government’s commitment to inclusive urban development.
Prabhakar stated that the bypoll is “not merely about electing a representative but about changing the trajectory of Jubilee Hills’ development.”
“For 10 years, people voted for the BRS, yet the slums received no meaningful attention. The area remained neglected. Now that Congress is in power, we are in a position to complete long-pending works,” he said.
He urged voters to view this election as a turning point for the constituency. “Jubilee Hills has faced years of neglect. With the Congress government firmly in place, people should give us a chance to hoist our flag here. Just as we won the Cantonment by-election, victory in Jubilee Hills will pave the way for accelerated development,” Prabhakar said.