Revanth's Strategy Puts Cong in Pole Position
Congress appeared confident of victory, gaining momentum to win another seat within the GHMC limits.
Hyderabad: As the campaigning for the Jubilee Hills Assembly bypoll concluded on Sunday, the Congress appeared confident of a comfortable victory, gaining momentum to wrest yet another seat from the BRS within the GHMC limits.
The Congress, which failed to win any seat in the GHMC limits in the December 2023 Assembly elections, opened its account in May 2024 by securing Secunderabad Cantonment in a byelection necessitated by the death of BRS MLA Lasya Nanditha in a road accident in February of that year.
The Jubilee Hills bypoll was necessitated following the sudden demise of BRS MLA Maganti Gopinath in June.
Political analysts said Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy’s political planning and effective campaign strategy had put the Congress in a strong position. From the beginning, Revanth Reddy focused on a strategic mix of social engineering and political alliances.
The Congress fielded a candidate from the Backward Classes community and secured the support of the AIMIM in a constituency where one in four voters are Muslims. Revanth Reddy’s targeted approach left both the BRS and the BJP struggling to counter the ruling party’s momentum.
Revanth Reddy personally led the campaign, holding roadshows for a week, covering two divisions each day, and addressing two street-corner meetings daily. His direct outreach, explaining the benefits of electing a ruling-party MLA, resonated widely with voters.
He highlighted how BRS MLAs were obstructing development programmes and welfare schemes in the city by not cooperating with the government. His appeal for a mandate for Congress to ensure smooth implementation of government schemes appears to have struck a chord.
The AIMIM played a crucial role by deploying its MLAs, corporators and local leaders to consolidate the Muslim vote in favour of the Congress, for the first time in the state.
The Congress campaign was based on a report submitted by a committee of three ministers, Ponnam Prabhakar, Tummala Nageswara Rao and Gaddam Vivek, appointed incharges for the constituency. The government approved development works worth over Rs 800 crore to address persistent civic problems.
Acting on the CM’s directives, officials distributed new ration while the free supply of sanna biyyam (fine rice) further strengthened the party’s outreach. This scheme alone helped households save at least Rs 2,000 per month.
The CM subsequently appointed 13 ministers as incharges to lead door-to-door campaigning across all divisions.
The outreach highlighted a comprehensive list of welfare measures: 25,925 families receiving free electricity below 200 units; 19,658 families benefiting from Rs 500 LPG cylinders; women saving Rs 120 crore on free bus travel within Jubilee Hills; 14,197 new ration cards issued and 8,123 new members added to existing cards; every ration card holder receiving 6 kg of fine rice per person; and 11,328 people drawing Aasara pensions, including senior citizens, widows, disabled and dialysis patients.
Indiramma Canteens serving breakfast at Rs 5 supported 25,000 people daily. Under the Special Development Fund, works worth Rs 5.51 crore are underway. Drinking water and sewerage improvements worth Rs 6.43 crore are in progress. Major traffic junctions, including Jubilee Hills Checkpost, KBR Park Entrance, Road No. 45, Filmnagar and Basavatarakam, are set to get flyovers and underpasses with an outlay of Rs 826 crore. Another Rs 11 crore is being spent on transformer and feeder upgrades, while GHMC has prepared Rs 162 crore proposals for underground electricity cabling.
