BJP, BRS to lock horns in Amberpet

Hyderabad: With the BRS releasing the contenders list, Amberpet constituency will see the BJP and the BRS in a tough contest. While the pink party once again chose Kaleru Venkatesh from the segment, G Kishan Reddy (BJP) and senior leader V Hanumantha Rao (Cong) are aspiring for the party ticket in the forthcoming election.

The previous election saw a tough fight between the BRS and the BJP. The BRS MLA Venkatesh won by just 1,016 votes, with Kishan Reddy trailing. The Congress has failed to win the seat and remained a vocal critic. Kishan Reddy who contested the Assembly polls for the first time in 2004 (from Himayatnagar) got elected. His work won him laurels though he was the only MLA for his party then. After delimitation of constituencies, he was subsequently elected to the Assembly from Amberpet in 2009 and 2014.

Venkatesh started his political journey with the Congress. From 2009 to 2012 he was the floor leader in the GHMC wing. From 2009 to 2014, he served as corporator of Golnaka. Later, Venkatesh joined the pink party and was its leader. In 2018 he was elected as MLA.

In the Amberpet constituency, the BRS leaders recently hit the headlines for fighting openly in public. Venkatesh and Golnaka corporator Dusari Lavanya and her husband Dusari Srinivas Goud got into an argument in Golnaka which led to a quarrel between their supporters. It soon deteriorated into fisticuffs. For veteran Hanumantha Rao it is his home turf. He is likely to sway the votes of BCs and squatters. Political analysts say the BRS and the BJP will be facing challenges. The AMIM which was in the fray in 2014, with N Sharath Babu, secured 17,536 (12%) of votes. It might again enter the field with the aim of increasing the party seats in this election. There is a considerable chunk of minority presence in Amberpet and Kacheguda areas (around 25%) of the constituency.

While educated upper middle-class voters live in Bagh Amberpet, Nallakunta and Barkatpura, lower middle class and slum population have made Amberpet and Kacheguda localities their home. The Musi river flows through the length and breadth of the constituency, which has over 2,58,704 voters---1,31,664 men and 1,27,030 women; 10 belong to the other category. The constituency was formed after delimitation in 2009 with six municipal divisions of Amberpet, Bagh Amberpet, Barkatpura, Kacheguda, Tilaknagar and Nallakunta. It was carved out from Himayatnagar.