TRS, TDP Set Eyes on Vacant Mahboobnagar Seat
posted on Nov 8, 2011 @ 12:51PM
In recent times, Mahboobnagar district has been in news for two things. One is for the sudden death of the sitting independent MLA of Mahboobnagar assembly constituency N Rajeswar Reddy and the other one is former minister from the district, Kollapur Congress MLA Jupalli Krishna Rao quitting the Congress and joining the TRS party.
The Telangana Rashtra Samithi after grabbing the Banswada Assembly seat from Telugu Desam Party and wooing MLAs from other parties, is now eying the Mahbubnagar Assembly constituency. According to sources, as the family of Rajeshwar Reddy is not ready to join the TRS, the party is said to be toying with the idea of neutralizing the sympathy for the family by fielding well-known TEJAC leader K Srinivas Goud as its candidate.
Mahbubnagar district, which till recently was outside the influence of the TRS, is slowly turning into a fortress for the party. After TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao won the MP seat from Mahbubnagar, the party has been able to woo many influential leaders from other parties. The first to join the party was former BJP MP Jitender Reddy, who brought into the party a large number of BJP cadre. Recently, another influential leader and former minister Jupalli Krishna Rao joined the TRS after quitting the Congress. The names of at least two TDP MLAs are doing the rounds as the next possible migrants to the TRS.
The TRS had initially wooed Rajeshwar Reddy's widow Vijayalakshmi into its fold with the offer of supporting her candidature. In its attempts to build rapport with Vijayalakshmi, K Kavita, daughter of KCR, met Vijayalakshmi to express her condolences. Even though no politics was said to have been discussed at the meeting, sources said the sole purpose of the meeting was to woo her into TRS.
But with that failing, the TSR is holding out the threat of fielding TEJAC leader Srinivas Goud from the constituency. However, according to Congress circles, Vijayalakshmi would contest the elections as the Congress candidate or as an independent backed by the ruling party.
On the other hand, Telugu Desam Party is also eying the vacant seat with an intention to regain its hold on the district. TDP has almost lost its ground in the district with its senior most leader Dr. N Janardhan Reddy quitting the party along with a couple of MLAs and two more reportedly on way out. According to TDP sources the party is on the lookout for a suitable candidate to be fielded from the Mahbubnagar seat.