By-polls - TRS sitting pretty - TeluguPeople.com News

Hyderabad: The by-elections for which the Election Commission announced the schedule on Tuesday will be a test for the TDP and the Congress.

The TRS is sitting pretty since it has nothing to lose. All the seats going for by-polls were won by either the TDP or the Congress in 2009.

While four seats out of the seven for which by-elections have been announced were won by the TDP, two returned the Congress candidates while the third won as independent and later became an associate of the Congress.

Nagam Janardhan Reddy(Nagar Kurnool-Mahaboobnagar), Gampa Govardhan(Kamareddy-Nizamabad), Jogu Ramanna(Adilabad town), and N Prasanna Kumar Reddy (Kovur-Nellore) were elected on TDP ticket.

While the first three have resigned on account of Telangana movement and the emotional atmosphere created by Sakala Janula Samme, Prasanna Kumar Reddy chose to cross over to Jaganmohan Reddy's camp.

Rajaiah(Station Ghanpur-Warangal) and Jupalli Krishna Rao (Kollapur-Mahboobnagar) were sent to Assembly as the Congress members but later defected to TRS.

Rajeswar Reddy was elected from Mahaboobnagar proper as an independent and then became an associate member of the Congress.

As the schedule of the by-elections has been long due, all the parties have been doing exercise to select candidates.

While Vijayalakshmi, the wife of Rajeswar Reddy whose untimely death caused the by-election, is being offered ticket by the TRS as well as the Congress, she has not decided whether to contest.

If she decides to contest, she might opt for a TRS ticket. In such case, the ruling party might prefer Obedulla Kotwal, a minority candidate or Mutyala Prakash, a local leader.

Nagam Janardhan Reddy is a strong candidate who may contest as an independent to be supported by the TRS.

TDP has selected a successful businessman Janardhan Reddy to take on its former leader who drifted away from the top leadership, finally going out of the party.

Former minister Jupally Krishna Rao has been very vocal in his demand for a separate Telangana state. He undertook padayaatra and created a situation where he could not remain in the Cabinet or the Congress party.

Minister for Information and Public Relations, DK Aruna, has a strong following in Nagarkurnool and she is proposing the name of Vishnuvardhan Reddy who migrated from TRS to the Congress.

However, Manda Jagannadham, sitting MP from Nagarkurnool, is suggesting that former minister Chinna Reddy would be a better bet.

Aruna is likely to have her way and if she can get the Congress candidate win the seat it would be a feather in her cap. She says Kollapur has been a bastion of the Congress which was returned every time except once when a TDP candidate won.

Rajaiah is not a very strong candidate but local people say the recent tour of Chandrababu Naidu had helped him to consolidate as a champion of Telangana.

But Rajaiah is going to be opposed by Kadiam Srihari, a strong candidate and a former minister. The Congress may put up Rajarapu Pratap.

In Adilabad, Jogu Ramanna as a TRS candidate will have to contend with Ramachandra Reddy, former DCC president and Shankar, ZPTC, of TDP.

Gampa Govardhan, as a TRS candidate, will not have much worry because the Congress leader Shabbir Ali, though he can get the ticket easily with the help of Gulam Nabi Azad, is not very keen on contesting as he lost elections both in 2009 and 2010.

He may select the Congress candidate who is difficult to be match to Govardhan because of the Telangana sentiment. The TDP also does not have a very strong candidate there.

However, in Kovvur TDP has a very good fighter in Chandra Mohan Reddy, former minister, who is going to oppose N Prasanna Kumar Reddy who defected from TDP to YSR Congress Party. P Srinivasa Reddy is likely to be the Congress candidate in Kovur.

It is the first time in recent past that by-elections are being fought without much at stake for the TRS. All the by-elections held so far have been very prestigious for the TRS which had to prove that it was popular with the people.

This time around the onus is on the ruling party and the principal opposition party. The YSR Congress party leaders said earlier that their party would contest by-elections in Telangana also. One has to wait and watch what stand the new party would take now.