Warangal East cynosure of all eyes

Warangal: The race for Warangal East constituency ticket continues to hog the limelight in all major political parties. Of late, the constituency is cynosure of all eyes.

Since that ticket row triggered in the ruling TRS after its leadership overlooked sitting MLA Konda Surekha, the constituency has been in the eye of storm. The race for Warangal East constituency ticket is not just limited to the ruling TRS but also in the Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

With the rebel problem in both the TRS and the Congress appears to take toll on both those parties, the BJP sees a realistic chance that it can pull off a coup in the election for Warangal East constituency.

Against this backdrop, there are quite a few aspirants trying tooth and nail for the BJP’s ticket. Kandagatla Satyanarayana, who did MTech in civil engineering from IIT Kanpur and spent over a decade in US working as software engineer, is one among the BJP aspirants vying for Warangal East ticket.

An IITian embracing politics is not a rarity but relinquishing a lucrative job in US to choose public life is something a welcome sign. The 46-year-old Satyanarayana in no novice to the politics as he was involved in student politics as an active ABVP worker during his education in CKM College.

He also worked actively at RSS Darga Shaka and conducted medical camps. He was one of the Karasevak at the time of Ayodhya Rama Janmabhoomi issue, due to which he was beaten black and blue by the Naxalites. He also worked as BJP’s 6th Ward president in Warangal Municipality between 192 and 1995. He continued his attachment with the party even though worked as AEE in the Panchayat Raj Department.

Later he went to US and worked as a software engineer and returned to India in 2012. Since then he has been working with the party. Presently he holds the post of Warangal Urban District NRI Cell convener.

Speaking to The Hans India, Satyanarayana, who is confident of getting Warangal East ticket, said: “I am a local man and have contacts with the people since my childhood.

The constituency is dominated by the backward classes. Moreover, the population of Padmashali community to which I belong to is huge in the constituency.” This apart, BJP has a decent track record in the erstwhile Warangal district right from the days of Jana Sangh, he said.

“Besides actively participating in social service programmes, I have been focusing on building a cadre base in Warangal East constituency for the last one year,” Satyanarayana said.

The other aspirants in the race for the ticket are senior leader Manthen Ramesh, former Corporator Kusuma Sathish and Dr Srinivas Varma. All of them are keeping their fingers crossed to get the ticket, party sources said.