A touch and go for Nagender, Vijayarama Rao

BJP’s Ramachandra Reddy, PR , Lok Satta candidates in fray

D. Nagender

K. Vijayarama Rao

HYDERABAD: A triangular and what could be an extremely close finish appears to be in the offing from Khairatabad Assembly constituency where local chiefs of major political parties are testing their political strength. The constituency, which in delimitation has ended up with a considerably reduced electorate, is witness to hectic activity as contestants, with lot at stake, sparing no efforts for a victory.

Crucial phase

Congress has fielded D. Nagender, who in the last elections walked out of the party, to contest on behalf of TDP from Asifnagar. He returned to the Congress fold only to lose the by-election and later was made the chief for party’s Greater Hyderabad unit. After the debacle last time and his political clout eroded a bit, a win for him now is a must to revive the political fortunes.

Throwing a challenge at him is TDP’s K. Vijayarama Rao, former CBI Director, who successfully dethroned P. Janardhan Reddy in 1999 elections and found a berth in N. Chandrababu Naidu’s cabinet. He was defeated when the constituency went to polls last time and is raring to stage a come back. For the party’s local unit head, a victory is crucial to reclaim his political clout.

In the fray from BJP is Chintala Ramachandra Reddy, the party’s Greater Hyderabad wing chief, who has launched an all-out and sustained campaign to woo the voters. In terms of campaign, he took the lead but Mr. Vijayarama Rao seems to be catching up fast with him. Meanwhile, Mr. Nagender too has started fanning out in the constituency but there appears to be some resistance for him from PJR loyalists. The other contestants include N. Vijayendra (Praja Rajyam) and A. Subhashini (Lok Satta).

High-profile seat

Before delimitation Khairatabad was the biggest Assembly constituency in the State with a total electorate of 7,51,715. But after yielding four new constituencies of Serilingampally, Jubilee Hills, Kukatpally and Qutbullahpur, it presently has 2,17,085 voters. It always hosted high profile electoral encounters and even in its trimmed version, the constituency has set up a contest that is followed closely not only by political circles but also the voters.