KCR may enter Lok Sabha poll fray from Nalgonda

HYDERABAD: With chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao deciding to play an important role in national politics, various seats are being considered for the TRS president in the Lok Sabha elections to be held this year.


KCR has a track record of getting elected to the Lok Sabha on three earlier occasions. He had represented Karimnagar, Mahbubnagar and Medak. He had got elected from Karimnagar for the first time in 2004 and in the subsequent two by-elections in 2006 and 2008.

In 2014, he had contested from the Medak Lok Sabha constituency apart from the Gajwel assembly segment. He retained Gajwel and quit his LS seat. KCR bagged 6,57,492 votes to win the Medak seat in 2014. K Prabhakar Reddy won it with a lesser majority, getting 5,71,800 votes in the bypoll the same year as TRS candidate.

According to TRS sources, KCR is chalking out a plan to better the record of TRS in LS polls. Out of the 17 seats, he had asked partymen to work hard to make sure TRS candidates bag the 16 LS seats. TRS has an understanding with MIM for the Hyderabad seat, which will be left for Asaduddin Owaisi.

KCR contesting from Medak LS constituency again would make it a safe bet but while campaigning during the 2018 assembly polls, he announced at a public meeting that the incumbent K Prabhakar Reddy would be renominated and urged voters to elect him again with a big majority. Another seat that TRS can take for granted is the Karimnagar seat. Party working president KT Rama Rao had announced that B Vinod Kumar would be renominated from here.

Nalgonda LS constituency is another option for KCR. In the 2014 elections, Gutta Sukhender Reddy, who got elected on a Congress ticket, shifted loyalties to TRS. He had polled 4,92,093 votes as against 2,78,937 polled by T Chinappa Reddy of TDP and 2,60,677 by TRS candidate Palla Rajeshwara Reddy.

If Sukhender Reddy gets inducted into the cabinet, as being discussed in party circles, the Nalgonda LS seat could be an option for KCR. While he was campaigning in Nalgonda during the recent assembly elections, he had admitted that he considered shifting from Gajwel which the people of Gajwel did not accept.

Now, KCR has to take up the challenge of contesting from Nalgonda LS constituency to fulfil his wish of winning 16 LS seats.

“We have no idea as to what KCR is considering but his final decisions are made taking into account several factors,” a party leader said, when asked if Nalgonda LS was on the CM’s mind.