Hyderabad: Contesting from 2 Constituencies. Then NTR, now KCR

Hyderabad : BRS chief KCR wants to do an NTR by contesting from two constituencies -- Gajwel and Kamareddy. He will be the second chief minister to contest from two seats after NTR. While NTR wanted to prove that his popularity was pan-Andhra Pradesh, KCR wants to prove that he was unchallenged leader in entire Telangana. It may be mentioned here that in 1983 NTR contested from Gudivada and Tirupati and in 1989 he contested from Hindupur and Kalwakurthy but faced humiliating defeat at the hands of Chittaranjan Das of the Congress in Kalwakurthy.

KCR’s decision has given a chance to the Opposition to start a campaign that KCR who was claiming to win 105 seats fears that he would lose from Gajwel and hence had decided to contest from Kamareddy. TPCC president A Revanth Reddy, Mohd Shabbir Ali, BJP state president G Kishan Reddy, former president Bandi Sanjay and Eatala Rajender said the CM had literally accepted the beginning of the downfall of the BRS.

But BRS leaders defended it by saying: “This was an attempt by KCR to strengthen his daughter K Kavitha politically in the upcoming Assembly as well as Lok Sabha elections. Kavitha was taking care of political affairs in the Nizamabad Lok Sabha segment. Though Kamareddy falls under the Zaheerabad Lok Sabha segment, she had been visiting the constituency regularly and monitoring developmental works. They said the BRS had won all 8 Assembly segments in the last elections. Kamareddy sitting MLA Gampa Govardhan is likely to be inducted into the Cabinet on Tuesday.

The Opposition leaders said that ever since BJP senior leader E Rajendar openly declared his readiness to contest from Gajwel, the political equations have been changing in KCR’s constituency. Reports said that the BJP and Congress leadership were putting in all efforts to give a tough fight to KCR in Gajwel. “In Huzurabad byelections, the Congress had helped Rajendar by fielding a weak candidate. The same formula is likely to be adopted in Gajwel against KCR,” sources said.