HYDERABAD: TRS president and Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao has firmed up his decision to field a local candidate from Backward Classes, belonging to the Yadava community, for the upcoming byelection to the Nagarjunasagar Assembly constituency, according to TRS sources.
Rao is learnt to have taken this decision ostensibly not to bank on any ‘sympathy factor’, which failed to work in the Dubbak Assembly by-election last December.
This implies that Nomula Bharat, son of Nagarjunasagar MLA Nomula Narasimhaiah, will not get the ticket as was widely speculated earlier as Bharath hails from Palem village of Nakrekal Mandal in Nalgonda district. Narasimhaiah’s death has necessitated the by-poll. Chandrashekar Rao reportedly assured Bharat of a nominated post soon.
The Chief Minister is learnt to have considered three local candidates from the Yadava community: Peddaboyina Srinivas Yadav (Tripuraram mandal), Mannem Ranjith Yadav and Katteboyina Guravaiah Yadav (Nidamanuru mandal).
Based on multiple survey reports, he has zeroed in on Guravaiah Yadav, son-in-law of former MLA Rammurthy Yadav and a close relative of the party’s Rajya Sabha member Badugula Lingaiah Yadav.
An official announcement on Guravaiah's candidature is likely to be made immediately after the Election Commission announces the schedule for the bypoll.
The TRS chief gave a ticket to Solipeta Sujatha, widow of Solipeta Ramalinga Reddy in Dubbak, relying on the ‘sympathy factor’. However, the BJP defeated the TRS by projecting itself as the principal opposition to the TRS in the state.
In this backdrop, Rao is being extra cautious in the selection of the Nagarjunasagar candidate where the Congress has decided to field its strongman K. Jana Reddy, who has won seven times from this seat but lost to Narasimhaiah in 2018.
Rao commissioned multiple surveys with various agencies to get a feel of the pulse of the voters. TRS sources say that all the survey reports indicated that most voters preferred a 'local’ candidate from the Yadava community which has a major chunk of voters in the Nagarjunasagar segment.
The surveys pointed out that the community had sacrificed the seat to Narasimhaiah, a non-local, in the 2018 Assembly elections respecting his vast political career and his 'pro-poor attitude' but they are not keen to support his son Bharat, a political novice.
Despite the fact that TRS leaders from Reddy community like Gutta Sukhender Reddy, Tera Chinnapa Reddy, Koti Reddy are vying for the party ticket, Chandrashekar Rao is learnt to have favoured a Yadav candidate.
